For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“How could my mother owe money?”
“I don't know.”
“She died before I met you.”
“I know.”
“Then explain.”
“I found the ledger in your grandfather's records.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor showed it to me.”
I looked at Elena.
She immediately began taking notes.
“What did it say?”
“That your mother borrowed money from a private lender.”
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
“How much?”
“About nine hundred thousand.”
My head began spinning.
“My mother didn't have that kind of money.”
“She may not have kept it.”
“Where did it go?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why did you take on the debt?”
“I didn't.”
“What?”
“The debt was transferred.”
“To you?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
I could hear the fear in his voice.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don't expect anything.”
“Send me the ledger.”
There was silence.
“I have a copy.”
“Send it.”
He did.
A file appeared on my phone.
I opened it.
The document was old.
Yellowed paper.
A lender's seal.
A signature.
My mother's name.
My hands began shaking.
But something was wrong.
Elena leaned closer.
“This signature needs authentication.”
“It looks like hers.”
“Looks aren't enough.”
I enlarged it.
My mother had signed countless things when I was young.
I knew her handwriting.
This wasn't quite right.
The first name was too narrow.
The final letter was wrong.
I looked at Elena.
“Forgery?”
“Possibly.”
I read the date.
The debt had supposedly been created eight months after my mother died.
I looked at my father.
He went pale.
“That can't be right.”
“What?”
“She died in March.”
The document was dated November.
My heart hammered.
“Then someone used her identity after she died.”
Elena nodded.
“That changes everything.”
I called Roland.
“Where did you get this?”
“Victor.”
“Where did Victor get it?”
“I don't know.”
“Who told you it belonged to my mother?”
“He did.”
“Did you verify it?”
“No.”
“Then you built your entire plan around an unverified debt.”
“I was desperate.”
I closed my eyes.
“You didn't just believe Victor.”
“I had no reason not to.”
“You had every reason to investigate.”
“I know.”
He sounded exhausted.
“I know now.”
“Where are you?”
“Near the river.”
“Which warehouse?”
He gave me an address.
Elena wrote it down.
“Don't move.”
“I won't.”
The call ended.
We drove there with Gregory.
The warehouse was nearly empty.
Roland was sitting inside an old car.
He stepped out when he saw me.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
“You look tired,” I said.
“So do you.”
“I'm tired of finding things you hid.”
He nodded.
“I deserve that.”
“What happened here?”
He looked toward the warehouse.
“This is where Victor told me the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That the trust wasn't the only thing they wanted.”
I waited.
“They wanted access to your grandfather's private records.”
“Why?”
“Because there was something in them.”
“What?”
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
He looked at me.
“Money moving through the family.”
My father had mentioned private accounts.
My grandfather had kept separate records.
My mother had supposedly left a debt.
Everything seemed connected.
But Roland still wasn't telling me enough.
“Who wanted the records?”
“Victor.”
“And Samuel?”
“Yes.”
“Adrian?”
“Adrian was dead by then.”
“His estate?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at him.
“You keep saying you don't know.”
“Because I don't.”
Then he reached into his pocket.
“I brought this.”
He handed me an envelope.
Inside was a copy of a letter.
My grandfather had written it.
The recipient was my father.
The date was one week before his death.
I read the first lines.
If the debt appears under Margaret's name, do not accept it as genuine.
My mother.
I kept reading.
Someone is attempting to construct a false financial trail that will eventually point toward Simone's inheritance.
My hands went numb.
My grandfather had known.
He had anticipated exactly this.
Then I reached the final paragraph.
If they succeed, they will make Roland believe the trust is the only way out.
I looked at Roland.
He closed his eyes.
“That letter explains everything.”
“No.”
He opened his eyes.
“It explains why I was targeted.”
“Not why you betrayed me.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“Did you ever see this letter?”
“No.”
“Then how did you get it?”
“Victor gave me the copy.”
I looked at Elena.
She took the page.
“Victor has been holding this for years.”
“Why?”
“To control me.”
“How?”
“By convincing me the debt was real.”
I felt a strange mixture of anger and pity.
Roland had been manipulated.
But he had still chosen to hide the truth from me.
The two facts could exist together.
I looked at him.
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of losing the company?”
“Yes.”
“Of losing me?”
He looked away.
“Yes.”
“You lost me anyway.”
His eyes filled.
“I know.”
We stood there in silence.
Then Gregory called.
“Simone.”
I answered.
“We found the original investigation.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
“In a private storage facility.”
“Who rented it?”
There was a pause.
“Your grandfather.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
“Who has access?”
“Only one person.”
“Who?”
Gregory hesitated.
“Your father.”
I looked at my father.
He wasn't there.
Then I realized something.
Gregory had called me from my father's house.
“Where is Dad?”
Silence.
“Gregory?”
“He left twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
I felt the cold return.
“Check the storage facility.”
“We already did.”
“Is the file there?”
“No.”
“Then where is it?”
Gregory's voice dropped.
“Your father took it.”
I stared at Roland.
Then at Elena.
The man I had trusted most in the world had just disappeared with the one file capable of explaining everything.
My phone buzzed.
A final message arrived.
From my father.
I'm sorry, Simone. There is something I should have told you before tonight.
Then another.
Your mother did not create that debt.
And a third.
I know who did.
I stared at the screen until the words blurred.
For years, I had thought my family had protected me from the truth.
Now I realized the truth had been protected from me.
And my father had finally decided to stop hiding it.
Click here to continue reading: PART 13: My Father Finally Named the Person Who Had Been Building the False Debt Trail Behind Our Family
Six Days Into Motherhood, I Thought My Husband Was Giving Me Space—Until One Small Detail Made Me Question Everything About His Disappearance
Part 12 of 20
