Chapter 2 - FIFTEEN YEARS OF SILENCE
We hid in an abandoned boathouse until dawn.
It smelled of wet wood, gasoline, and mold.
I spent the first hour staring at Tobias.
He sat on the floor with his back against the wall, completely calm.
Too calm.
“You owe me fifteen years,” I said.
He looked at me.
“I know.”
“You let me believe you couldn't walk.”
“Yes.”
“You let me help you shower.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“You let me push that wheelchair.”
“I needed everyone to believe it.”
“You let me mourn our parents while you knew they were murdered.”
“I knew they were targeted.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No,” he admitted. “It isn't.”
I stood.
“What exactly have you been doing?”
Tobias opened the waterproof envelope again.
Inside were documents, photographs, bank records and shipping manifests.
“I've been tracing the people who took control of our parents' company.”
I looked at the names.
Some were familiar.
Some weren't.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Gideon Hale.
Garrett's father.
Another name made my stomach drop.
Eleanor Mercer.
My mother.
I stared.
“Why is Mom's name here?”
“Because she knew something.”
“She died with Dad.”
“She didn't.”
I looked up.
Tobias swallowed.
“Our mother survived the crash.”
I couldn't speak.
“She died three days later in the hospital.”
“Why didn't anyone tell us?”
“Because the official report said she died instantly.”
He slid another photograph toward me.
A hospital document.
My mother's name.
A handwritten note on the bottom.
Patient transferred under protective identity.
My hands went numb.
“Who changed the record?”
Tobias looked at me.
“Garrett's family.”
I stepped backward.
My entire life suddenly felt like a room with hidden doors.
“Then why did Garrett marry me?”
Tobias hesitated.
That hesitation frightened me more than anything.
“I don't know.”
“You know.”
“I know what I suspect.”
“Tell me.”
“He needed access to the shipyard.”
I laughed bitterly.
“My family's company?”
“Your father divided the ownership.”
I stared at him.
“You inherited a controlling interest.”
“I don't remember that.”
“Because the documents disappeared.”
Tobias reached into the envelope.
“There was a trust.”
He placed a copy in front of me.
My name was there.
Rosalind Mercer.
Beneficiary.
Controlling shareholder.
My heart pounded.
“Why didn't Garrett take control after we married?”
“Because you never signed the final transfer.”
I stared at the signature line.
Blank.
Then another document appeared.
A forged transfer agreement.
My signature was on it.
I recognized the handwriting.
It looked like mine.
But it wasn't.
My father had taught me something as a child.
Never sign anything twice.
Because someone can copy the first signature.
I suddenly remembered Garrett asking me to sign “routine corporate housekeeping.”
I had refused.
He had laughed.
I had forgotten about it.
Until now.
“He's been trying to steal the shipyard.”
“For three years.”
“And Penelope?”
Tobias's expression hardened.
“She isn't pregnant because she loves him.”
“What does that mean?”
“She is carrying a bargaining chip.”
I stared at him.
“Whose baby?”
“We don't know.”
The door creaked.
Both of us froze.
Footsteps approached.
Tobias immediately reached for the flashlight.
A shadow passed across the broken window.
Then disappeared.
We waited.
Nothing.
Five minutes later, Tobias whispered, “We move.”
“Where?”
“To Baltimore.”
“Why?”
“Because there's one person Garrett doesn't know exists.”
“Who?”
“Our father's old attorney.”
Tobias looked toward the dark river.
May you like
“Daniel Cross.”
“And he has the original trust.”
