The message remained on my screen long after the morning light began filling Margaret's empty house.
STOP LOOKING INTO THE PAST.
OR DANIEL WILL PAY FOR WHAT HIS FATHER DID.
I read it again.
Then once more.
Daniel stood beside me, staring at the words as though they belonged to someone else.
“They know we're here,” he said.
Marcus took my phone carefully.
“Don't reply.”
“I wasn't going to.”
“Good.”
Helen was already photographing the message.
“We'll preserve everything.”
Daniel looked toward the grandfather clock.
“My father knew about this.”
I turned to him.
“What makes you say that?”
“The note. The money. The company.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“When I was a kid, my father used to disappear for days.”
Margaret had never mentioned it.
“Business trips?”
“That was what she called them.”
“Did he own a company?”
“Not officially.”
“Then why did the note say company assets?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Marcus looked up from the phone.
“We can find out.”
He called an investigator who specialized in corporate records.
While we waited, the police secured Margaret's house.
The security token had been taken as evidence.
The attempted transfer had been stopped.
The remaining trust funds were frozen.
For the first time in weeks, Margaret's plan had nowhere obvious to go.
Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that we had only stopped the visible part.
The four million dollars bothered me.
So did the date.
It had entered the family system before Richard created Ava's trust.
That meant the trust hadn't created the fortune.
Something had existed before it.
Something Richard had deliberately kept separate.
Daniel sat at the kitchen table.
“I remember a warehouse.”
I looked at him.
“What warehouse?”
“My father took me there once.”
“How old were you?”
“Maybe fourteen.”
“What did you see?”
“Boxes. Computers. Files.”
“Did he tell you what it was?”
“He said it was where old business records were stored.”
“Where?”
“Near the river.”
Marcus returned.
“I found something.”
He placed a folder on the table.
“Richard Whitmore was listed as a silent partner in a company called Northbridge Holdings.”
Daniel stared.
“That name means nothing.”
“It should.”
Marcus opened the folder.
“The company was dissolved seventeen years ago.”
“And the four million?”
“Came from its liquidation.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Who owned Northbridge?”
“Three people.”
Marcus pointed to the first name.
Richard.
The second was a man named Samuel Pierce.
The third was Margaret.
Daniel's face changed.
“My mother was a partner?”
“According to the filing.”
“She never told me.”
“Apparently not.”
I looked at the dates.
The company had been dissolved shortly before Richard established the trust.
“What did Northbridge do?”
“Property acquisitions.”
“That's all?”
“No.”
Marcus turned another page.
“It also handled distressed properties.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“They bought properties from people who couldn't pay their debts, renovated some, resold others.”
“That sounds legal.”
“Some of it was.”
“Some?”
Marcus showed us another record.
Several properties had been acquired at prices far below their assessed value.
“Were the owners forced to sell?”
“Some were.”
Daniel stared at the names.
Then he stopped.
“My uncle.”
“What?”
“One of these properties belonged to my father's brother.”
Marcus looked at the record.
“Thomas Whitmore?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to him?”
Daniel's voice became quiet.
“He died.”
“When?”
“Seventeen years ago.”
I felt a chill.
The timing matched the company's dissolution.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Marcus looked at the file.
“There was no criminal investigation.”
Daniel swallowed.
“My mother told me he was driving drunk.”
“Was he?”
“I don't know.”
The room fell silent.
I looked at the threatening message again.
Maybe the sender wasn't protecting Margaret.
Maybe they were protecting something older.
Something that had survived Richard's death.
The investigator called back.
Marcus put the phone on speaker.
“There are more records,” the investigator said. “Northbridge wasn't simply a property company.”
“What was it?”
“An investment vehicle.”
“Who invested?”
“Several families.”
“Which families?”
The investigator listed six names.
One of them belonged to a local judge.
Another belonged to a former county commissioner.
The final name made Helen sit upright.
“Robert Collins.”
Janet's husband.
I looked at her.
She wasn't there.
We had left her with investigators earlier.
Marcus ended the call.
“This goes much deeper.”
Daniel stood.
“We need to find Janet.”
We found her at the county office.
She looked frightened when she saw us.
“I told you everything.”
“Not everything,” Daniel said.
Her face tightened.
“Northbridge.”
She closed her eyes.
“Who told you?”
“Records.”
She sat down.
“I knew this day would come.”
I pulled out the document.
“Your husband invested in Northbridge.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because he was dead.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
She looked at me.
“Because his death was connected to the company.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What happened to my uncle?”
Janet hesitated.
“Thomas discovered money was being diverted.”
“By whom?”
“Samuel Pierce.”
“Your husband?”
“Yes.”
“What did Richard do?”
“He confronted him.”
“And Margaret?”
“She knew.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“My mother knew?”
Janet nodded.
“Your mother wanted to keep the company alive.”
“Why?”
“Because by then she was dependent on the money.”
“Four million dollars?”
“More than that.”
I stared at her.
“How much?”
Janet whispered the number.
“Nearly nine million.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“Where did it go?”
“Properties. Investments. Private accounts.”
“And Thomas?”
“He threatened to expose them.”
Daniel's jaw clenched.
“What happened?”
Janet looked at him.
“He died two days later.”
Nobody spoke.
I remembered the threat.
Daniel will pay for what his father did.
Maybe Daniel wasn't the target because of his own actions.
Maybe someone believed he inherited his father's debt.
I asked Janet, “Who sent the message?”
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
She closed her eyes.
“There was one person Richard feared.”
“Who?”
“Samuel Pierce.”
Marcus checked the records.
“Samuel Pierce died twelve years ago.”
Janet looked at him.
“Then someone is using his name.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Someone alive.”
Janet nodded.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“The person who handled Northbridge's accounts after Richard died.”
“Name?”
“David Mercer.”
The name meant nothing to Daniel.
But Marcus immediately reached for his phone.
“I'm going to find him.”
Janet grabbed my wrist.
“Rachel.”
I looked at her.
“If David Mercer is involved, don't trust anyone who says this is over.”
Her grip tightened.
“He doesn't threaten people twice.”
“What does he do?”
“He makes problems disappear.”
I pulled my hand free.
“What does that mean?”
Janet's eyes filled.
“It means people.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 14: Janet Finally Named the Man Behind the Threat, and His Connection to Richard Made Daniel Question Everything He Remembered About His Father
One Accidental Touch Turned a Family Barbecue Into the Moment My Marriage Finally Broke
Part 13 of 20
