Chapter 10: My Mother's Last Secret
Dad gripped the phone so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"What did Laura discover?""
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
I could hear traffic behind him.
Then a car door slammed.
"Not over the phone.""
Dad's expression hardened.
"You don't get to decide that.""
"Richard, what Laura gave me includes documents. Ava should see them herself.""
"Where?""
"My office.""
Dad looked at me.
I nodded before he could ask.
"We're coming.""
Daniel's office occupied the second floor of a brick building downtown.
Twenty minutes later, Dad, Mia, and I walked into a conference room where Daniel was waiting beside a cardboard storage box.
He looked exhausted.
No suit jacket this time.
No polished confidence.
Just an older man standing beside a secret he'd apparently carried for years.
His eyes settled on me.
"You look like her.""
I stiffened.
"Please don't.""
Daniel nodded.
"Fair.""
Dad remained standing.
"Start talking.""
Daniel opened the box.
Inside were folders, old bank statements, a flash drive, and a sealed envelope with my mother's handwriting across the front.
FOR AVA — WHEN SHE IS OLD ENOUGH.
My breath caught.
I reached toward it.
Daniel stopped me gently.
"There's something you need to understand first.""
Dad stepped closer.
"Don't touch her.""
Daniel immediately removed his hand.
"Laura contacted me about three weeks before the accident.""
Dad's face tightened.
"What accident?""
I looked at him.
Dad always called Mom's death the accident.
A rain-slick highway.
A truck losing control.
One terrible moment.
Daniel continued.
"She'd discovered irregularities in an investment account.""
"What investment account?""
"One you didn't know existed.""
Dad laughed bitterly.
"Apparently nobody told me anything.""
Daniel accepted that.
"Laura inherited money from her grandmother. She invested part of it through our company.""
"Our company?""
"Yes.""
Dad's eyes narrowed.
"You handled it?""
"I did.""
Daniel opened a folder.
"The account performed well. Very well.""
He slid a statement across the table.
Dad studied it.
I watched his face change.
"Two hundred and forty thousand?""
"At its peak.""
My stomach twisted.
"Then where did it go?""
Daniel looked at me.
"That's what Laura asked.""
He produced another set of statements.
Withdrawals.
Transfer after transfer.
Small at first.
Then larger.
Dad flipped through them.
"These signatures aren't Laura's.""
"No.""
"Whose are they?""
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Mine.""
Dad slammed the papers onto the table.
"You stole from my wife?""
Mia flinched.
Daniel didn't defend himself.
"Yes.""
Dad lunged across the table.
I grabbed his arm.
"Dad!""
"You stole from Laura!""
"I know.""
"While she was dying?""
"Richard!""
Daniel's voice finally rose.
"I didn't know she was going to die.""
Silence.
Dad's breathing was ragged.
Daniel continued quietly.
"I had made catastrophic losses elsewhere. I moved client money temporarily to cover them.""
"Temporarily?"" Dad spat.
"I told myself I'd replace it.""
My skin crawled.
The same excuse Vanessa had used.
"I did replace part of it," Daniel said.
"The seventy-five thousand," I whispered.
He nodded.
"Years later.""
Dad stared at him.
"Why put it into Ava's trust instead of returning it to me?""
"Because Laura left instructions.""
Daniel reached into the box.
He pulled out a notarized document.
"If anything happened to her before the account was restored, recovered funds were to go directly to Ava.""
Dad sank into a chair.
"Why didn't she tell me?""
"She was going to.""
"How do you know?""
"Because she wrote it.""
Daniel looked at the envelope.
My hands shook as I picked it up.
Eleven years.
I had spent eleven years wishing for one more conversation with my mother.
Now I was holding one.
I opened it carefully.
A folded letter slid out.
My mother's handwriting hit me harder than I expected.
My sweet Ava,
If you're reading this, then life did something I prayed it wouldn't.
I covered my mouth.
Dad looked away.
I kept reading.
She wrote about courage.
About mistakes.
About money never being more important than character.
Then came the paragraph that shattered me.
Daniel made a terrible choice. I am furious with him, but I also believe people must have the chance to make wrong things right. If he restores what he took, I want the recovered money protected for you.
There was more.
Do not let my money become the reason you distrust everyone. Judge people by what they do after the truth finds them.
I couldn't continue.
Tears blurred the page.
Mia touched my shoulder.
Daniel stared at the floor.
"She didn't report you," I whispered.
"No.""
"Why?""
"She gave me thirty days to restore everything and confess to Richard.""
Dad looked up.
"She died before the thirty days ended.""
Daniel nodded.
"And you kept quiet.""
"Yes.""
Dad stood again.
"You let me bury my wife without knowing.""
Daniel's eyes filled.
"I was a coward.""
Nobody argued.
Then I noticed another envelope inside the box.
It was newer.
Different handwriting.
I pulled it out.
Dad frowned.
"What's that?""
Daniel's face changed.
"That's why Vanessa contacted me six months ago.""
I turned the envelope over.
Vanessa's name was written on the back.
Inside was a photocopy of one of Mom's old investment statements.
Across the bottom, someone had handwritten:
I know what you did to Laura Bennett's money.
Mia whispered, "Who sent that?""
Daniel looked directly at her.
"I thought Vanessa did.""
Dad frowned.
"You thought?""
Daniel nodded slowly.
"Until Vanessa showed me the copy she'd received.""
He opened another folder.
Inside was an identical note.
May you like
Except Vanessa's version had one extra sentence.
And if you want your husband to keep believing Daniel acted alone, pay me.
