Chapter 3 - THE VOICE THEIR FATHER LEFT BEHIND
Daniel locked the library door and placed the black envelope on the desk.
Victoria stood beside him, pale and confused. “You told me the safe was empty.”
“It was supposed to be.”
Emma realized Victoria had never known the entire truth. She had helped Daniel destroy Emma’s reputation, but she had done it because she believed the evidence he had created.
Daniel opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter addressed to Emma, a list of account numbers and a second flash drive.
He reached for the drive, but Emma moved first. She grabbed it and pushed it into the computer built into her father’s desk.
Daniel lunged toward the power cord.
The screen came alive before he reached it.
Their father appeared in a recorded video, seated in the same library. His body looked frail, but his voice was clear.
“If Emma is watching this, then Daniel has attempted to sell the house.”
Daniel ripped the power cable from the wall.
The screen went dark.
But the recording continued from the laptop battery.
Their father described discovering transfers from Blackwood Shipping into offshore companies controlled by Daniel. He had also found proof that Daniel copied Emma’s passwords, forged her confession and paid a private clinic to create false medical records.
Victoria lowered herself into a chair.
“No,” she whispered.
Their father continued.
“I believed my son because accepting his evidence was easier than admitting what he had become. Emma paid for my cowardice.”
Emma’s vision blurred.
She had imagined countless apologies during the years she lived alone, but hearing one after her father’s death brought no comfort. It only showed how much time fear had stolen from them.
The recording shifted to the final evidence.
Daniel had not merely stolen from the company. He had borrowed money against Blackwood House and used forged family guarantees to conceal the debt. The planned sale would pay off lenders before the board or federal investigators discovered the fraud.
“That’s why you need my signature,” Emma said.
Daniel closed the laptop.
“You think a dead man’s recording will save you?”
“It won’t have to.”
Emma lifted her phone. During the recording, she had quietly connected Thomas to the call. He had heard everything.
Daniel knocked the phone from her hand. It struck the carpet but remained connected.
Thomas’s voice came through the speaker.
“The authorities are already on their way.”
Daniel froze.
Outside, tires crushed through the snow-covered driveway.
Victoria looked at Daniel as though seeing him for the first time. “You told me she stole from us.”
“She was supposed to sign,” he snapped. “None of this would matter if she had signed.”
Emma retrieved her phone.
Daniel stepped toward her, but Victoria moved between them.
“No,” she said. “You have taken enough from her.”
Blue lights flashed against the frozen windows.
May you like
Daniel looked toward the side door and calculated the distance.
Then the entire house went dark.
