Chapter 4 - THE NIGHT JAMES FORGOTThe accident had happened eleven years earlier.
James had been driving home after meeting Rachel.
Someone followed him.
The police report said black ice caused the crash.
Robert's private letter said otherwise.
There had been another vehicle.
A dark SUV.
The driver deliberately forced James off the road.
Why?
Because James had discovered the same financial scheme Rachel had discovered.
The difference was that James didn't remember.
His father did.
And instead of telling him, Robert buried the truth.
Not to protect himself.
To protect James.
At least, that's what he claimed.
We found another document.
A bank transfer.
Paid to a private investigator.
The investigator's name was Daniel Cross.
James recognized it.
“He worked for my father.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
“Convenient.”
James didn't answer.
We spent the next week tracing the financial records.
The deeper we went, the stranger it became.
Rachel's name appeared in multiple files.
Not as an employee.
As a witness.
She had apparently kept copies of everything.
Then we discovered she had created a hidden account.
Not for money.
For evidence.
Every document had been uploaded to a secure archive.
But we needed a password.
Claire didn't know it.
James didn't know it.
Then Lily said something.
She was sitting at the kitchen table drawing with crayons.
“Mommy used to sing a song when she was scared.”
I looked at her.
“What song?”
Lily hummed.
A children's lullaby.
James froze.
“That song.”
“What?”
“Rachel sang it the night we met.”
He remembered.
The melody.
The words.
The password was hidden in the song.
We accessed the archive.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Videos.
Emails.
Financial statements.
And one recording.
Rachel appeared on screen.
She looked younger.
Pregnant.
Tired.
But calm.
“If you're watching this,” she said, “then something happened to me.”
James covered his mouth.
Rachel continued.
“I need James to know I never left him.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I loved him until the day I died.”
James turned away.
I held his hand.
Rachel continued.
“Robert believes he's protecting his son. He's wrong. The person controlling everything is not Robert.”
James looked up.
“Who?”
The video ended.
The screen went black.
Then another file opened automatically.
A name appeared.
MARTIN PARKER.
James stared.
“Who is Martin?”
I looked at him.
“Your uncle?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“My father's business partner.”
The man was still alive.
And he was still running one of the companies.
James called him.
Martin answered immediately.
“James.”
“You knew about Rachel.”
Silence.
Then:
“You don't understand what you're involved in.”
“Tell me.”
“I can't.”
“You will.”
“No.”
Martin's voice cracked.
“Because if I tell you, they will kill Lily.”
The line went dead.
We sat in silence.
Then James stood.
“We're going to find him.”
That night, our house was attacked again.
This time, the intruder wasn't interested in documents.
He wanted Lily.
The bedroom window shattered.
James reached her first.
He grabbed her and pulled her into the hallway.
I ran behind them.
A man entered through the window.
James tackled him.
They crashed against the wall.
The struggle lasted seconds.
Then the man escaped through the backyard.
But he dropped something.
A silver cufflink.
James picked it up.
There was a tiny engraved symbol.
The Parker family crest.
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Someone inside the family was involved.
And they had just crossed the line from threatening us to hunting our child.
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