Chapter 7 - THE BETRAYAL INSIDE THE HOUSE
I met Allison in a parking garage the next morning.
She looked exhausted.
Her eyes were red.
For five years, I had considered her my sister.
Now I didn't know whether I could trust her.
“You lied to me,” I said.
“Yes.”
“You gave Nathan my documents.”
“Yes.”
“You knew he was using my identity.”
“I suspected.”
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
I crossed my arms.
“Then explain.”
Allison looked down.
“Six months before your wedding, Nathan asked me about your inheritance.”
“I know.”
“I thought he was just curious.”
“And you told him?”
“I told him what I knew.”
I stared at her.
She continued.
“Then I started noticing things.”
“What things?”
“Nathan asking questions about your father's finances.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Why?”
“I didn't know.”
“So you investigated him?”
“Yes.”
Allison had worked in corporate compliance.
She knew how to follow financial records.
She discovered that Nathan had hidden debts.
She also discovered that he had been asking questions about me before we met.
“I confronted him,” she said.
“And he threatened you.”
Allison nodded.
“He had a recording of me.”
“What did you say?”
She looked away.
“I had been working for a company that Nathan's business partner owned.”
“What does that mean?”
“I helped move money.”
My eyes widened.
“You were involved in fraud?”
“No.”
She shook her head quickly.
“I didn't know what was happening. I thought the transfers were legitimate.”
“Until you found out.”
“Yes.”
“And Nathan knew.”
“He threatened to expose me.”
I was silent.
Allison continued.
“I tried to stop him.”
“By helping him?”
“I was trying to get evidence.”
She explained that she had accessed copies of my documents to compare them with the forged loan.
She wanted proof.
But Nathan discovered what she was doing.
He threatened to send the recording to the police.
Then he threatened to ruin her career.
So she stopped.
Until the night I was attacked.
“I saw what he did,” she said.
“You were there.”
“I was outside.”
“Why didn't you come in?”
She began crying.
“I was afraid.”
I stared at her.
I wanted to hate her.
But I understood fear.
I had lived with it for five years.
Allison handed me a flash drive.
“What is this?”
“The original recording.”
I took it.
“What recording?”
“Your father.”
I went home with Rebecca.
The file was encrypted.
Marcus opened it.
The recording was old.
Five years old.
My father's voice appeared first.
“I know what you're doing.”
Nathan answered.
“You don't know anything.”
“I know about the company.”
“What company?”
“The one you emptied.”
Nathan laughed.
“You're threatening me?”
“No.”
My father's voice was calm.
“I'm warning you.”
Nathan became angry.
“You don't get to decide what happens to Claire.”
“No.”
“But I do get to decide who she marries.”
There was silence.
Then my father said:
“If you hurt her, I will expose everything.”
Nathan laughed.
“You think she will believe you?”
“She will.”
“No.”
Nathan's voice became colder.
“She trusts me.”
My heart broke.
The recording continued.
My father said:
“She has no idea who you really are.”
Nathan replied:
“Neither do you.”
Then came the part that made the room go silent.
Nathan said:
“Tell me, Richard. What exactly did you do with the money?”
My father's voice changed.
“What are you talking about?”
“The money from the family company.”
I looked at Rebecca.
My father had been investigating Nathan.
But Nathan had been investigating my father too.
The recording ended.
I sat in silence.
My father had died three years ago.
I had believed he had simply been worried about my marriage.
But now I realized he had been involved in something.
Something connected to Nathan.
Rebecca looked at me.
“Claire, there is another file.”
“What?”
“It was hidden inside the recording.”
Marcus opened it.
A second conversation appeared.
This one was between Nathan and Eleanor.
Eleanor said:
“Does she know?”
Nathan answered:
“No.”
“About the company?”
“No.”
“About her father?”
“No.”
“Then keep it that way.”
My blood ran cold.
Nathan said:
“If she finds out what Richard did, she'll never trust him again.”
Eleanor replied:
“And if she finds out what you did?”
Nathan laughed.
“She won't.”
Then Eleanor said:
“Once she signs the loan, it won't matter.”
I closed my eyes.
My father had secrets.
Nathan had secrets.
And somehow, they were connected.
The next morning, Marcus found the missing financial records.
The money Nathan had stolen from my family did not begin with my marriage.
May you like
It began years earlier.
And the person who had first discovered it was my father.
