The message stayed on my screen.
Samuel is not your brother.
Daniel read it twice.
Then he looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Grant took the phone.
“Don't respond.”
She photographed the message.
Then she called Robert.
He answered on the second ring.
“Emily?”
“Where are you?”
“Federal building.”
“Did you receive any messages?”
“No.”
“Richard contacted us.”
Silence.
“What did he say?”
I told him.
Robert exhaled slowly.
“He's trying to destabilize you.”
“Is Samuel my brother?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
“Then why would he say otherwise?”
“Because there is another secret.”
I closed my eyes.
“Of course there is.”
Robert said nothing.
“Tell me.”
“I can't over the phone.”
“Why?”
“Because someone may be listening.”
Grant took the phone.
“Robert, tell us what you know.”
“I'll meet you.”
“Where?”
“The federal building.”
He arrived twenty minutes later.
He looked exhausted.
I was beginning to wonder whether every person in my family had forgotten how to tell the truth without first making everyone else suffer.
Robert sat across from me.
“Samuel is your brother.”
“Then what's the secret?”
He placed a folder on the table.
Inside was a hospital record.
The child's name was Samuel Hale.
Mother: Rebecca Hale.
Father: Thomas Hale.
The date matched.
I looked at Robert.
“So he's our brother.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Richard say otherwise?”
“Because Samuel isn't the person he claims to be.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Robert opened another document.
A photograph of Samuel.
Then another photograph of a different boy.
They looked almost identical.
“This is Samuel.”
He pointed to the first.
“And this is his cousin, Jonathan.”
I stared.
“They look alike.”
“They were raised together.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because Jonathan died when they were teenagers.”
I waited.
Robert continued.
“Victor used Jonathan's identity after Samuel disappeared.”
My stomach tightened.
“Victor was pretending to be Samuel?”
“No.”
“Then who was?”
Robert looked at me.
“Richard.”
I didn't understand.
“Richard used Jonathan's records to create another identity.”
“Why?”
“To control Samuel's assets.”
I looked at the documents.
The financial network had been using Samuel's identity to move money.
But Samuel had not done it.
Someone had been impersonating him.
Richard.
After Richard supposedly died, someone continued using the identity.
That person was Victor.
The network had passed identities between men.
Not because the names mattered.
Because the names were shields.
Grant studied the documents.
“So Samuel is still your brother.”
“Yes.”
“And the message was designed to make Emily doubt him.”
“Exactly.”
I felt relief.
Then anger.
“So Richard is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Robert looked toward the window.
“Somewhere close.”
Grant received a call.
They had found Jackson.
Alive.
He had been taken to a warehouse outside the city.
We drove there.
Jackson was sitting on the floor with his hands tied.
He looked shaken but conscious.
He had been interrogated for hours.
“Who took you?” I asked.
He looked at Robert.
“Richard.”
“What did he want?”
“The location of the ledger.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Jackson laughed weakly.
“Because I didn't know.”
Richard had shown him photographs.
One was of the original ledger.
Another was of me as a child.
The third showed Robert standing beside a younger Samuel.
Richard believed Jackson knew where the ledger had been hidden.
“He said the ledger could destroy everything.”
“It can.”
Jackson nodded.
“He also said my mother wasn't his real partner.”
I looked at Robert.
“Who was?”
Robert didn't answer.
Jackson whispered:
“Thomas.”
I felt the room go still.
“No.”
“He said Thomas created the network.”
Robert shook his head.
“Richard lied.”
Jackson looked at me.
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because he told me something else.”
“What?”
“He said Thomas had a daughter before Rebecca.”
I stared.
“A daughter?”
Jackson nodded.
“She was the first beneficiary.”
Rebecca arrived at the warehouse.
When she heard this, she went pale.
“That isn't possible.”
Robert looked at her.
“You never knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Your father had another child.”
Rebecca sat down.
“Who?”
Robert opened the folder.
A birth record.
A girl.
Name: Clara Hale.
Mother: unknown.
Father: Thomas Hale.
Clara Vale.
The woman who had given us the ledger pages.
The woman who had helped us.
The woman who claimed Richard was her father.
She wasn't his biological daughter.
She was Thomas's.
I felt dizzy.
“Then why did Richard raise her?”
“To control her inheritance.”
Clara's inheritance.
Another protected portion of the original trust.
The trust had three known beneficiaries.
Me.
Daniel.
Samuel.
But Clara was an earlier beneficiary.
A fourth.
Richard had hidden her identity.
He had married her mother.
Raised Clara as his own.
Then used her access to the financial network.
“She didn't know?”
“Not until recently.”
That explained why Clara had seemed frightened.
Why she had helped us.
Why Richard wanted her controlled.
Grant received another call.
Clara had disappeared.
Her apartment was empty.
Her phone was found in the street.
On the floor of her bedroom was a photograph.
Clara as a child.
Thomas standing beside her.
The back contained a message.
I finally know who my father is.
Then another line.
And he is not the man you think.
I looked at Robert.
“Who is Thomas's father?”
He shook his head.
“We don't know.”
I stared.
“You're telling me there is another generation?”
“Yes.”
The family history stretched backward again.
Every answer opened another door.
But this time I refused to follow blindly.
“We stop.”
Robert looked at me.
“What?”
“We stop chasing ghosts.”
“We need to find Clara.”
“We find her because she's in danger.”
“And the ledger?”
“We recover it.”
“And Richard?”
“We arrest him.”
“But Thomas—”
“Thomas can tell us the truth himself.”
I called him.
He answered.
“Emily.”
“I know about Clara.”
Silence.
“Is she your daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid Richard would use her.”
“He already did.”
“I know.”
“Where is she?”
Thomas breathed slowly.
“I don't know.”
“You're her father.”
“I know.”
“Then find her.”
He was silent.
I continued.
“I spent my entire life being protected from the truth.”
My voice shook.
“I don't want protection anymore.”
Thomas finally answered.
“Then come to Vermont.”
“Why?”
“Because the original ledger is there.”
I looked at Grant.
Thomas continued.
“And Richard is coming for it.”
I ended the call.
Daniel stood beside me.
“You're going.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I'm coming.”
Samuel appeared in the doorway.
“I am too.”
I looked at him.
“You heard?”
“Yes.”
“Then we're all going.”
Robert stepped forward.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Richard wants all of you in one place.”
I held his gaze.
“Then we'll make sure he doesn't get what he wants.”
Outside, the sky was beginning to lighten.
For once, the morning did not feel like the beginning of another disaster.
It felt like a decision.
We were going to Vermont.
We were going to find Clara.
We were going to recover the original ledger.
And this time, nobody was going to decide what we were allowed to know.
Click here to continue reading: PART 21: Vermont Held the Original Ledger and the Woman Richard Had Taken, but Thomas’s House Contained a Final Warning About Who Would Betray Us
The Wedding Was Still Applauding When I Saw the Balance, and My Mother’s First Answer Told Me This Was Never an Accident
Part 20 of 35
