Chapter 9 - THE SECRET GRANDMA KEPT
I waited until we were alone.
"Grandma."
She looked at me.
"What happened to Grandpa?"
Her face changed.
"I told you he had a heart attack."
"You told me that when I was twelve."
"Because you were twelve."
"Was it true?"
She looked toward the window.
"No."
My stomach dropped.
"What happened?"
"He was poisoned."
I couldn't speak.
"Who?"
"We never proved who."
"Did you suspect Dad?"
Grandma closed her eyes.
"Your grandfather suspected him."
"Why?"
"Because your father had been stealing from the trust."
I sat down.
"How much?"
"Almost forty thousand dollars."
Back then, that was a fortune.
Grandpa had confronted him.
Then he died.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because your father threatened me."
My voice cracked.
"With what?"
"He said if I spoke, you'd disappear."
I stared at her.
"What does that mean?"
"He had people who could make things difficult."
I thought about Vanessa.
The shell companies.
The surveillance.
The forged documents.
Suddenly, the entire story looked different.
This wasn't one crime.
It was a legacy.
My parents had inherited the scheme.
Or perhaps they had continued it.
Then Grandma reached for my hand.
"There is something else."
"What?"
"Your grandfather left something for you."
"Where?"
She pointed toward her necklace.
I recognized it immediately.
She had worn it my entire childhood.
She removed it.
Inside the pendant was a tiny key.
I stared at it.
"What does it open?"
"The safe deposit box."
At the bank, the box contained one envelope.
One photograph.
One flash drive.
And one handwritten note.
Hannah, if you're reading this, trust no one who says the property is theirs.
The flash drive contained financial records.
But the photograph stopped me.
It showed my father.
Vanessa.
And another man.
I recognized him.
He had been at the courthouse.
My father's attorney.
My stomach twisted.
The attorney wasn't just representing my father.
He had been involved from the beginning.
I looked at Grandma.
"Did Grandpa know?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't he stop them?"
"He tried."
"How?"
Grandma whispered:
"He was going to expose them."
"When?"
"The week he died."
Everything suddenly became clear.
My grandfather hadn't died at random.
He had been preparing to expose the people stealing from his family.
And someone had stopped him.
I looked at the flash drive.
"We need to take this to Morales."
Grandma nodded.
But before we left the bank, my phone rang.
It was Evelyn.
Her voice was shaking.
"Hannah, you need to get somewhere safe."
"Why?"
"Vanessa knows about the box."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Then I heard a crash on her end.
"Evelyn?"
Nothing.
May you like
"Evelyn!"
The line went dead.
