Chapter 5 - The Doctor's Confession
I found Dr. Morales in the hospital's private surgical corridor.
She was standing alone, staring at her phone.
When she saw me, she immediately put it away.
“Marcus.”
I held up my phone.
“Why did Elena say you could prove my father's death was staged?”
Her face drained of color.
For several seconds, she didn't speak.
Then she looked toward the nurses' station.
“Not here.”
We entered an empty consultation room.
She locked the door.
“I met Elena five years ago,” she began. “She came to me because she was afraid someone was following her.”
“Richard?”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“Your father's estate.”
I frowned.
“My father left nothing. The warehouse burned down. The insurance company paid out, and Richard managed the estate.”
Dr. Morales shook her head.
“That wasn't the entire inheritance.”
She opened her phone and showed me an old photograph of a legal document.
My father's name appeared at the top.
Beneath it was a trust agreement.
A substantial one.
Forty-seven percent of Hale Global Holdings had been transferred into a protected family trust before his death.
The beneficiary was me.
I stared at the document.
“Why didn't I know?”
“Because the trust was concealed. Vincent knew about it. Richard knew about it. Elena discovered it after finding a box of your father's old documents.”
“And she disappeared because of that?”
Dr. Morales nodded.
“Richard threatened her. Vincent helped her escape, but he made a deal with Richard to protect you.”
I felt something inside me break.
“Vincent helped the man who killed my father?”
“He believed Richard would leave you alone if Elena disappeared and the trust remained hidden.”
“Believed?”
She lowered her eyes.
“Richard never intended to honor that agreement.”
I stepped back.
“Where is Elena?”
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I'm not.”
She opened a drawer and removed a sealed envelope.
“Vincent gave me this two weeks ago. He said I should only open it if he couldn't protect you anymore.”
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Marcus,
I have spent years telling myself that silence was the same as protection.
I was wrong.
Your father discovered that Richard had been stealing from the family company. He threatened to expose him. The warehouse fire was arranged to destroy the evidence and eliminate your father.
I helped Richard cover it up because he threatened Elena and you.
I have regretted it every day.
But there is something else.
Richard isn't acting alone.
The person who has been helping him is someone you see every morning.
Someone who knows Adeline's routines.
Someone who has access to your home.
I read the final sentence three times.
Then I heard a knock.
A nurse entered.
“Dr. Morales, there's someone here asking for you.”
“Who?”
The nurse looked uncomfortable.
“Your husband.”
Dr. Morales went completely still.
I looked at her.
“You're married?”
She nodded slowly.
“His name is Daniel.”
Before I could ask another question, the consultation room door opened.
A man in a charcoal suit stood there.
He smiled politely.
“Marcus. We've finally met.”
Then he looked at the letter in my hand.
His smile disappeared.
“Give me that.”
I didn't move.
May you like
He reached inside his jacket.
And Dr. Morales screamed.
