Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN IN THE OLD HOUSEThe woman lived in Connecticut.
Her name was Evelyn Carter.
My father's older sister.
I had never met her.
According to family records, she had left the country decades ago.
But the photograph proved she was alive.
Michael and I drove through the night.
Her house sat at the end of a narrow road surrounded by bare trees.
No security.
No cameras.
No luxury.
Just a small yellow house with one porch light burning.
I knocked.
A woman in her seventies opened the door.
She looked at me.
Then whispered:
“Thomas's boy.”
I froze.
“You knew my father.”
“I knew the man he became.”
She let us inside.
Her living room was filled with old photographs.
My father.
My mother.
Claire's parents.
Peter.
All of them.
My entire life had been built on a history nobody had told me.
“Why was my father investigating Peter?”
“Because Peter wasn't the beginning.”
“What was?”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
“Your father and Claire's father discovered a financial network using legitimate businesses to hide stolen money.”
“How?”
“Through logistics.”
Shipping records.
Fake invoices.
Real companies.
The system was simple.
Money entered through one business.
Moved through another.
Then disappeared.
My father tried to expose it.
Claire's father helped him.
Peter betrayed them.
“But why didn't they go to the police?”
“Because people inside the system were involved.”
I thought about Rachel.
About the bank officer.
About the shell companies.
It suddenly made sense.
“What happened the night my father died?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“He met Peter.”
“And Claire's father?”
“He came too.”
“Then what happened?”
“Your father collapsed.”
“Heart attack?”
“No.”
My blood ran cold.
“He was poisoned.”
I stared at her.
“Why wasn't that discovered?”
“Because the doctor who examined him was paid.”
“By Peter?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Then why did my father die and Peter survive?”
“Because your father made a deal.”
“What deal?”
“He agreed to take the blame for financial misconduct if Peter promised to protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“He trusted Peter?”
“He thought Peter would keep his word.”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“He was wrong.”
A floorboard creaked behind us.
Michael turned.
Nothing.
Then Evelyn said something that made my stomach drop.
“Claire found the original evidence.”
“Where?”
“She doesn't have it.”
“Then who does?”
Evelyn looked directly at me.
“You.”
I didn't understand.
She pointed toward my father's old house.
“The evidence was hidden in the nursery.”
I stared.
“My nursery?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because no one searches a baby's room.”
My phone rang.
Rachel.
“Claire is in labor.”
My entire body went cold.
“What?”
“She went into early labor.”
“Where?”
Rachel gave me an address.
A private clinic.
I drove like a maniac.
When I arrived, Claire was in a hospital bed.
She looked exhausted.
But alive.
I stopped at the doorway.
She looked at me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she whispered:
“Hope is okay.”
I nodded.
“She’s sleeping.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I was so scared.”
I walked closer.
“I was too.”
She looked at me.
“Not for yourself.”
“No.”
I sat beside her.
“I was afraid I'd lost both of you.”
Claire looked away.
“You almost did.”
“I know.”
“No, Ethan.”
Her voice hardened.
“You don't know.”
She told me everything.
Peter had discovered Claire's investigation.
He had threatened her.
Then he had manipulated Samantha into spying on me.
He wanted me distracted.
He wanted Claire isolated.
And he wanted the company unstable.
But there was one final piece.
Claire had found a recording of Peter discussing my father's death.
She had hidden it.
Then Peter discovered she had it.
“So you left because of the recording.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
Claire looked toward the sleeping room.
“Hope has it.”
I stared.
“What?”
“The recording is stored inside a small music box.”
My heart stopped.
“The one from the nursery?”
Claire nodded.
“I left it because I knew you would eventually find it.”
Then the lights in the hallway went out.
A nurse shouted.
Someone ran past the door.
Claire grabbed my wrist.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“If the lights go out…”
May you like
She swallowed.
“…don't let them take Hope.”
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