Chapter 4 - THE LOCKED OFFICE
The police arrived with us at the mansion.
Beatrice opened the door.
Her face went pale when she saw Rachel and two officers standing behind me.
“Daniel, what is this?”
“Where's Marcus?”
“He's upstairs.”
“Call him.”
She hesitated.
One officer stepped forward.
“Ma'am, we're here regarding a financial investigation.”
Her expression changed.
“This is a family matter.”
“No,” I said.
“It stopped being a family matter when you committed fraud.”
Marcus appeared at the top of the staircase.
He was wearing the same expensive watch I had bought him two Christmases earlier.
“Daniel.”
“Come downstairs.”
He didn't move.
Rachel spoke.
“Mr. Caldwell, we need access to the office.”
His face changed.
“What office?”
I looked at him.
“The locked one.”
Silence.
My mother turned toward him.
“Marcus.”
He shook his head.
“Daniel, there is nothing up there.”
“Then open it.”
He didn't.
The police officer stepped forward.
“Open the door.”
Marcus finally walked upstairs.
I followed.
The hallway was dark.
At the end stood a wooden door.
A brass lock covered the handle.
I had never seen it before.
Marcus took a key from his pocket.
My blood ran cold.
He unlocked the door.
Inside were filing cabinets.
Boxes.
Bank statements.
Passports.
Property records.
And photographs.
Hundreds of photographs.
I walked toward a desk.
There was a folder with my name.
I opened it.
My entire life was inside.
My employment contract.
Passport copies.
Bank records.
Marriage certificate.
Lily's birth certificate.
Even my medical information.
Rachel whispered:
“Someone had complete access to you.”
I opened another drawer.
There were printouts of my emails.
But something else caught my attention.
A photograph.
Emily standing outside the mansion.
She was pregnant.
The date was four years earlier.
I turned toward her.
She looked at the photograph and began crying.
“That was the day you left.”
I stared.
“What happened?”
She swallowed.
“Your mother told me you didn't want to say goodbye.”
My hands clenched.
“I called you.”
“I know that now.”
I looked through the photographs.
There were pictures of Emily and Lily over the years.
Lily playing in the yard.
Lily's first day of school.
Lily sick in bed.
Emily carrying groceries.
And then the photographs changed.
The final ones showed them in the shed.
Thin.
Exhausted.
Someone had been documenting their suffering.
“Why?” I whispered.
A voice came from the doorway.
“Because they wanted evidence.”
I turned.
It was Marcus.
He looked terrified.
“What evidence?”
He stared at my mother.
She shook her head.
“Don't.”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
“Mom said if you ever came back, we would lose everything.”
I stepped toward him.
“Everything?”
“The house.”
“The money?”
“The company.”
“What company?”
He didn't answer.
Rachel stepped closer.
“Mr. Caldwell, you need to start talking.”
Marcus looked at me.
“You weren't supposed to come home.”
“I figured that out.”
“You were supposed to stay in Dubai another three years.”
I felt a chill.
“Why?”
He hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Because the mansion wasn't the only thing your mother took.”
I waited.
He looked at the floor.
“She took your inheritance.”
My breath caught.
“What inheritance?”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Your father left you twenty-eight million dollars.”
The room went silent.
My father had died when I was nineteen.
I had always been told he left almost nothing.
My mother had said the business collapsed.
She said there were debts.
She said we were lucky to have survived.
But Marcus was telling me something else.
“Where is it?”
My mother appeared behind him.
Her face was empty.
“Daniel...”
“Where is my father's money?”
She didn't answer.
Rachel stepped forward.
“Beatrice, I strongly recommend that you answer.”
My mother looked at me.
Then she whispered:
“It isn't yours anymore.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
She looked terrified.
“Because your father didn't leave you money.”
She paused.
“He left you control.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
My mother reached into a drawer.
She pulled out an old envelope.
And handed it to me.
Inside was a letter from my father.
I unfolded it.
The first sentence made my blood run cold.
Daniel, if you are reading this, it means your mother has finally lost control.
I looked up.
My mother was crying.
May you like
But I kept reading.
And the final paragraph changed everything.
