Chapter 11 - THE LETTER EMILY NEVER SENT
Three weeks passed.
Michael moved Emily and the children into a secure mountain estate.
Lily finally had her own bedroom.
She decorated it with drawings.
Hope sat on her pillow every night.
The baby slept beside Michael and Emily.
For the first time in months, the mansion sounded like a home.
But Michael couldn't forget Daniel.
The police were building a case.
Victoria had refused to speak.
Daniel had remained silent.
Then Emily found the letter.
It was hidden inside an old book.
The envelope had Michael's name.
She handed it to him.
“I wrote this the night before the accident.”
Michael opened it.
“Dear Michael,
If you are reading this, I failed to tell you everything.”
Michael swallowed.
Emily continued beside him.
“I found out that Lily is yours.”
Michael looked at Emily.
“I wanted to tell you.”
He continued reading.
“But I also discovered something worse.”
The next line made him stop.
“Your father knew about Sarah.”
Michael stared.
Emily explained.
“Your father had been secretly supporting Sarah because he knew she had your child.”
Michael's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because he believed Lily could eventually inherit the company.”
Michael looked at the baby.
Emily continued.
“And then I discovered there was another child.”
Michael's eyes widened.
“Your father had arranged for the second baby to be taken.”
Michael stood.
“Why?”
Emily shook her head.
“I don't know.”
The letter continued.
“But I know one thing.”
“Someone inside our family has been controlling everything.”
Michael looked at Emily.
“Who?”
She whispered:
“I never found out.”
Then Michael noticed something.
A second envelope was inside the first.
He opened it.
There was a photograph.
A young man.
Michael recognized him.
Daniel.
But Daniel wasn't alone.
Standing beside him was another man.
Michael stared.
“Who is that?”
Emily looked.
Her face went white.
“I don't know.”
On the back of the photograph was a date.
Twenty years earlier.
And a single sentence:
“He knows where the money came from.”
Michael immediately called the police.
But before they arrived, the mansion alarm sounded.
A window had been broken.
Someone had entered.
Security guards searched every room.
Nothing.
Then Lily came running downstairs.
“Daddy!”
Michael turned.
“What happened?”
She was crying.
“Someone was in my room.”
Michael's heart stopped.
“What did they do?”
Lily held out Hope.
“My doll is gone.”
Michael stared.
Hope had been beside her only minutes earlier.
He looked at the broken window.
Then at the floor.
A muddy footprint.
Someone had come specifically for the doll.
The doll that had once contained the flash drive.
Michael suddenly understood.
The drive wasn't the real secret.
The doll was.
He called the police.
Then Emily whispered:
“Michael…”
He turned.
She was holding a photograph.
“Look.”
It was a picture of Lily as a baby.
But behind her stood a man.
Michael recognized him.
The same man from Daniel's photograph.
And beneath the image was a name.
“Jonathan Reed.”
Emily looked terrified.
“Michael, I know him.”
“Who is he?”
“He was your father's accountant.”
Michael froze.
“He died twenty years ago.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
“He's alive.”
And somewhere outside the mansion, a car disappeared into the darkness.
