Chapter 12 - THE BETRAYAL
The police traced the cloned phone to an apartment downtown.
Matthew, Grace, and Jessica waited outside while officers entered.
The apartment was empty.
But there was evidence everywhere.
Photographs.
Maps.
Shipping records.
And pictures of the twins.
Matthew's blood ran cold.
Someone had been planning this for months.
Then Grace found a laptop.
She opened it.
A folder was labeled:
PROJECT FAMILY
Inside were files on Matthew.
Jessica.
Benjamin.
Caleb.
Grace.
And even Evelyn.
One file made Matthew stop.
GRACE WHITMORE — LIABILITY.
He opened it.
There were photographs of Grace meeting Thomas.
Messages between her and Jessica.
Then one message:
If Grace gets close to Matthew, use the children.
Grace stepped backward.
"I never knew."
Matthew looked at her.
"I believe you."
She stared.
"You do?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if you wanted my money, you could have taken it already."
Grace's eyes filled.
Jessica looked away.
She seemed relieved.
Then a sound came from the bedroom.
A floorboard creaked.
Matthew turned.
A man rushed out.
Police shouted.
The man ran.
Matthew chased him.
They crashed through the hallway.
The suspect jumped through a window.
He escaped into an alley.
But he dropped something.
A key.
Matthew picked it up.
It had an engraving.
CARTER SHIPPING — PRIVATE STORAGE
Matthew knew the location.
An old warehouse near the port.
He drove there immediately.
Inside, they found dozens of boxes.
Documents.
Cash.
Fake passports.
And a collection of photographs.
Matthew found one photograph of his mother.
Beside Robert.
They were much younger.
On the back:
The night we decided to eliminate Thomas.
Matthew stared.
Evelyn had known more than she admitted.
But then he found something worse.
A photograph of Jessica.
Taken the night she disappeared.
Standing beside her was a man Matthew didn't recognize.
Grace looked at it.
Her face went pale.
"That's my father."
Matthew looked at her.
"Thomas?"
She nodded.
"He was alive that night."
Jessica stepped closer.
"I thought he was dead."
Grace shook her head.
"He told me he would protect us."
Matthew studied the photograph.
Thomas was holding an envelope.
On the back was a sentence:
If anything happens, give this to Matthew Carter.
Matthew searched the warehouse.
They found the envelope hidden inside a metal locker.
Inside was one final document.
A confession.
Thomas had written everything.
Including the truth about Jessica's disappearance.
But there was one line that changed everything.
Robert was not acting alone.
Matthew stared.
"Who else?"
At the bottom of the document was a name.
Ethan Carter.
Matthew's younger brother.
He froze.
His brother had died as an infant.
Or so he had been told.
Matthew looked at Grace.
"That's impossible."
Grace shook her head.
"No."
She pointed to a photograph.
A man standing beside Robert.
Older.
Alive.
The face was unmistakable.
May you like
Matthew's supposed dead brother.
And suddenly the entire mystery became something much darker.
