Chapter 3 - THE SECRET UNDER THE MANSION
At the hospital, Alora was taken for examination.
I sat in the waiting room staring at the envelope.
My father's handwriting kept replaying in my mind.
If Kareen has found this, you're already too late.
I wanted to open it.
But something stopped me.
Fear.
Not fear of what my father had written.
Fear of what it would change.
A doctor finally came out.
“Mr. Caldwell?”
I stood immediately.
“How is my wife?”
“She and the baby are stable.”
My knees almost gave out.
“But she needs rest,” the doctor continued. “The stress and trauma tonight were significant.”
“Can I see her?”
“Yes.”
I found Alora lying beneath a hospital blanket.
Her eyes opened when I entered.
“The baby?”
“Stable.”
She closed her eyes.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
I kissed her forehead.
“I've got you.”
She whispered, “Do you?”
I froze.
She looked at me.
“Because tonight I realized I don't know your family at all.”
“I don't either.”
I sat beside her.
“I found something.”
I showed her the envelope.
She read the handwriting.
Her face changed.
“That's your father's.”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
I told her.
Alora stared at me.
“Then open it.”
I did.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
My father's handwriting filled the page.
Thane,
If you're reading this, Kareen has finally discovered the trust.
She will tell you that your wife is after your money.
She will tell you Alora manipulated you.
She will lie.
Because she has been lying for years.
My hands trembled.
I continued.
Your mother did not kill me.
I stopped.
Alora sat up.
“What?”
I read the next line.
But she knows who did.
I looked at Alora.
The room suddenly felt too small.
There was more.
The person responsible has been protected by someone inside our family.
I discovered financial transfers totaling $4.8 million.
The money was moved through shell companies controlled by someone using your sister's identity.
I looked at Alora.
“Vanessa.”
My father's final paragraph made my blood run cold.
If Vanessa is helping Kareen break into the safe, do not assume she is working willingly.
Then:
There is a second key.
It is hidden beneath the floorboard beneath the nursery.
I looked at Alora.
“We don't have a nursery.”
She slowly shook her head.
“Yes, we do.”
“What?”
She stared at me.
“The room across from ours.”
“That room is empty.”
“No.”
She looked terrified.
“Your mother told me never to open it.”
I stood.
“What?”
Alora grabbed my hand.
“Thane, your mother came here three weeks ago.”
“What did she do?”
“She stood in that doorway for almost an hour.”
“Why?”
“She kept saying…”
Alora swallowed.
“She kept saying that room belonged to your father.”
I felt a cold wave move through me.
“My father never used that room.”
Alora shook her head.
“He did.”
I stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I found something.”
“What?”
She pointed toward her purse.
“Before you came home tonight, I was going to tell you.”
She pulled out a small photograph.
I looked at it.
My father stood in front of the mansion.
Beside him was a young woman.
Not my mother.
Not anyone I recognized.
And in the woman's arms was a baby.
My baby?
Impossible.
The photograph was old.
Older than me.
On the back was one sentence.
My son deserves to know the truth.
I looked at Alora.
“Who is she?”
“I don't know.”
I turned the photograph over again.
There was another detail I hadn't noticed.
A date.
June 14, 1994.
I was born in October 1994.
Four months later.
My hands began shaking.
“Alora…”
She whispered:
“I think your father had another family.”
Then my phone rang.
It was Vanessa.
I answered.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Thane…”
“What?”
“Mom knows you're looking.”
“At what?”
“The nursery.”
Silence.
Then Vanessa whispered:
May you like
“Get there before she does.”
The line went dead.
