Chapter 6: The Night His Father Died
Eleanor Carter sat down slowly.
For a moment, she looked much older than she had that morning. The gold dress, the carefully styled hair, and the pearls at her throat could not disguise the terror in her eyes.
Ethan placed the phone on the table.
“Mom. What happened the night Dad died?””
She stared at the screen.
“Your father died in the hospital.””
“I know where he died. I'm asking what happened before that.””
Eleanor pressed her hands together.
“Ethan, this is not the time.””
“Grant just called me using Dad's missing phone. He says Dad left something behind, and you know what it is.””
“Grant says many things.””
“Then tell me which ones are lies.””
Madison moved toward the door.
“I'll give you some privacy.””
“No,” Eleanor said suddenly.
Madison stopped.
Eleanor looked at Ethan.
“If I'm going to tell you, she should hear it too. She's already risked her life trying to help you.””
Ethan pulled a chair closer.
“Start at the beginning.””
Eleanor took a shaky breath.
“Your father discovered financial irregularities about six months before he died. He believed someone inside Carter Industries was moving money through shell companies and using false invoices to hide the transfers.””
“Grant?””
“I don't know. Your father suspected several people.””
“Did he tell the police?””
“No. He wanted proof first.””
Eleanor looked toward the window.
“He was convinced the person responsible had access to his private files. He said that if he accused the wrong person, the company would collapse before he could protect it.””
Ethan remembered his father working late into the night, often returning to the study with a look of exhaustion that no amount of sleep seemed to cure.
At the time, Ethan had assumed it was the pressure of running a global company.
“What did he find?””
“A series of payments connected to a subsidiary in Europe. He believed the money was being used to purchase voting rights through intermediaries.””
“The same structure Grant is trying to use now.””
Eleanor nodded.
“Your father started keeping copies of everything. He hid them somewhere outside the company archives.””
“Where?””
“He never told me.””
“Then why did Grant say you know what Dad left behind?””
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Because I know what your father was trying to protect.””
She reached for the phone and turned it over.
On the back was a small scratch shaped like a crescent.
Ethan recognized it.
His father had scratched the same mark into a silver pocket watch he kept on his desk. It was a private symbol he used to identify objects that contained confidential information.
“Dad used that mark on his private files,” Ethan said.
“Yes.””
Eleanor swallowed.
“The night he died, he came home after midnight. He was agitated, and he kept checking the locks. He told me that someone had discovered what he was doing.””
“Who?””
“He wouldn't say.””
“Mom.””
“He said he had made a mistake trusting someone too much.””
Ethan felt a chill move down his spine.
“What happened next?””
Eleanor looked at him, and tears finally spilled down her cheeks.
“Your father received a phone call. He went into the study and locked the door. I heard him arguing with someone.””
“Who was on the phone?””
“I couldn't hear the other person's voice clearly. But I heard your father say, ‘You were supposed to protect my son.’”
Ethan stopped breathing for a moment.
Then Eleanor continued.
“After the call, he came out and told me he needed to go to the office. I begged him to wait until morning. He said there wasn't time.””
“Did he leave alone?””
“No. Grant arrived a few minutes later.””
Madison made a small sound.
Eleanor nodded.
“Grant told me he would drive your father. He said it wasn't safe for him to be alone while he was upset.””
Ethan looked at Madison.
She had gone pale.
“You knew Grant was there that night?”” he asked.
“No,” she whispered.
“But I remember hearing a rumor when I worked at the company. Grant was absent from the office the morning after your father's death. He said he'd been dealing with a family emergency.””
Ethan turned back to his mother.
“What happened at the office?””
“I don't know everything. I stayed home because your father told me to. At around three in the morning, Grant called to say your father had collapsed.””
Eleanor's voice broke.
“He was taken to the hospital. By the time I arrived, the doctors were trying to stabilize him.””
Ethan stared at her.
“Why didn't you tell me Grant had been the last person with him?””
“Because I didn't know he was the last person with him until later. And because Grant told me your father had been under enormous stress. He said the doctors believed it was a cardiac event.””
“Was it?””
“The medical report said it was.””
Ethan stood and walked toward the window.
His father had died of a heart attack at sixty-two. The family had accepted the explanation because the doctors had confirmed it, and because grief had made every other question seem unbearable.
But now Grant was using the missing phone, the trust, and the forged documents to force open a secret that had remained buried for four years.
“Did Dad leave you anything?”” Ethan asked.
Eleanor hesitated.
Then she reached into the neckline of her dress and drew out a thin gold chain.
A small key hung from it.
Ethan stared at the key.
“I've never seen that before.””
“Your father gave it to me the night he died. He told me to keep it safe and never let Grant know I had it.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because he made me promise not to tell anyone until I knew who was responsible for the missing money.””
Ethan's anger faded, replaced by something heavier.
His mother had carried the secret alone for four years.
“What does it open?””
“A safety deposit box at a private bank in San Francisco. Your father said it contained something that would explain everything.””
“Do you have the box number?””
Eleanor nodded.
“It's written on a piece of paper I keep in my jewelry case at home.””
Ethan looked at the clock.
The wedding was supposed to begin in twenty minutes.
The board was preparing to remove him. Grant was attempting to seize control of the trust. Victoria had admitted to helping him, and a declaration of incapacity had already been filed under Ethan's name.
The ceremony no longer mattered.
But the timing did.
If Grant believed Ethan was distracted by the wedding, he might be rushing to secure the company before the forged documents could be challenged.
“Daniel needs to know about the key,” Ethan said.
“We have to get to that bank before Grant does.””
Eleanor rose.
“I'll come with you.””
“No.””
Her expression hardened.
“Don't start treating me like a child.””
“Mom, if Grant knows you have the key, you could be in danger.””
“I have been in danger since the night your father died. I simply didn't know it.””
Ethan opened his mouth, then closed it.
She was right.
He had spent the morning trying to protect everyone by keeping them out of the truth. It had only made the conspiracy easier to hide.
“All right,” he said.
“But we go together, and we tell Daniel everything.””
Madison picked up the phone from the table.
“There may be another problem.””
She turned the screen toward them.
A new message had appeared from an unknown number.
*Stop looking for the box. Grant already knows about the key.*
Beneath the message was a photograph.
It showed a bank security desk, a deposit-box register, and a hand holding a copy of Eleanor's key.
The photograph had been taken recently.
Eleanor staggered backward.
“He has it.””
Ethan took the phone.
“Who sent this?””
Madison checked the number.
“It's masked.””
Another message appeared.
*If you want to know what happened to your father, come to the chapel alone. Bring the original prenup. You have fifteen minutes.*
Ethan looked at the clock.
Then he looked at the document Victoria had left on the table.
“It's a trap,” Madison said.
“Obviously.””
“Then you're not going.””
Ethan slipped the phone into his pocket.
“If Grant wants the prenup, that means he needs something in it.””
“Or he wants to get you alone,” Madison replied.
“Either way, I need to know what he knows.””
Eleanor grabbed his arm.
“Ethan, please. Your father went to meet someone that night, and he never came home. Don't make the same mistake.””
He covered her hand with his.
“I won't.””
But he was already thinking about the chapel.
Grant had spent years preparing this moment. He had manipulated Victoria, forged legal documents, and used Ethan's trust in his mother to bring the family to the edge of ruin.
Now he was asking for the one document that could expose the entire scheme.
Ethan walked to the door.
Madison followed him.
“I'm coming with you.””
“No. Stay with my mother. If anything happens, get the key and the evidence to Daniel.””
Madison shook her head.
“You don't get to order me out of danger anymore.””
Ethan looked at her.
“Then help me by protecting the person Grant is most likely to target next.””
Madison glanced at Eleanor.
Finally, she nodded.
Ethan left the suite and moved quickly through the estate.
At the entrance to the chapel, two security guards stood beside the doors. Both straightened when they saw him.
“Mr. Carter,” one said, “the guests are ready.””
“Has anyone entered the chapel in the last ten minutes?””
The guard frowned.
“Mr. Whitmore went inside about five minutes ago.””
Ethan's pulse quickened.
“Anyone else?””
The guard hesitated.
“A woman. She said she was delivering something for the bride.””
“What woman?””
“I don't know her name.””
“Describe her.””
“Blonde hair. Black dress. She carried a red envelope.””
Ethan looked through the glass doors.
The chapel was empty except for the rows of white flowers and the long aisle leading to the altar.
At the far end, a figure stood with his back to the entrance.
Grant Whitmore.
Ethan pushed open the doors.
“Grant.””
His friend turned slowly.
He held a red envelope in one hand.
“You came,” Grant said.
Ethan stopped several feet away.
“Tell me what happened to my father.””
Grant looked at the envelope, then back at Ethan.
“You've been asking the wrong question.””
He removed a single photograph and placed it on the altar.
It showed Ethan's father standing outside a hospital room on the night he died.
Beside him stood a woman Ethan had never seen before.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written a date and a sentence in black ink.
*The night Richard Carter discovered who his real enemy was.*
Ethan looked up.
“Who is she?””
Grant's face lost its smile.
“Your father's other daughter.””
The chapel doors slammed shut behind Ethan.
May you like
And from somewhere in the darkness behind the altar, a woman's voice spoke.
“Hello, Ethan. I've been waiting four years to meet you.””
