CHAPTER 8 — THE WILL OF THE DEAD
CHAPTER 8 — THE WILL OF THE DEAD
The hospital room fell silent.
Emily stared at the television, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.
On the screen...
Daniel stood beside my niece, Olivia, smiling for the cameras as if nothing had happened.
The reporter's voice echoed through the room.
"Sources close to the Williams family say this engagement was arranged to ensure stability after the unfortunate accident involving Emily Williams."
Emily laughed.
A broken, painful laugh.
"He couldn't even wait..."
I squeezed her hand.
"He was never worthy of you."
She looked at me.
"Dad..."
"I almost married the man who tried to kill me."
Meanwhile...
Across the city.
Williams Tower.
Richard raised a glass of expensive whiskey.
Daniel stood beside the window, nervously loosening his tie.
"You promised she'd die."
Richard didn't even look at him.
"I promised I'd solve the problem."
Daniel slammed his fist onto the desk.
"She woke up."
Richard calmly took another sip.
"And yet..."
"The police still believe Charles is their primary suspect."
Daniel's breathing slowed.
Richard smiled.
"You worry too much."
"What if Emily remembers everything?"
Richard finally turned around.
His smile disappeared.
"Then she won't live long enough to testify."
Daniel swallowed.
For the first time...
Even he looked afraid of Richard.
Back at the hospital...
Marcus entered carrying a sealed evidence box.
"Sir."
"The forensic team found something in Miss Emily's wedding suite."
"What is it?"
"A hidden safe."
Emily frowned.
"I didn't have a safe."
Marcus nodded.
"Exactly."
"It was installed only three days before the wedding."
He placed the box on the table.
Inside...
A flash drive.
A handwritten envelope.
And an old brass key.
The envelope simply read:
For Charles.
Not Dad.
Not Father.
Just...
Charles.
I slowly opened it.
Inside was a letter written in elegant handwriting.
It wasn't Emily's.
Sophia gasped the moment she saw it.
"No..."
"It can't be..."
"What?"
She took the letter with trembling hands.
"I know this handwriting."
The room became still.
"It's your mother's."
Emily looked confused.
"My grandmother?"
Sophia nodded.
"Evelyn Williams."
"Your grandmother wrote this."
I stared at the faded ink.
My mother had died fifteen years earlier.
How could she have written a letter hidden only days before Emily's wedding?
Marcus answered the question.
"The envelope is old."
"The safe is new."
"Someone kept this letter for years..."
"...and hid it just before the wedding."
Someone had wanted it found.
But only after everything began.
I unfolded the letter.
Charles,
If you are reading this, then Richard has finally made his move.
There is something about your accident that I never dared tell you.
It wasn't an accident.
My hands froze.
Emily looked at me.
"Dad..."
I kept reading.
The police believed your brakes failed because of a manufacturing defect.
They were wrong.
I paid a mechanic to examine the wreck before your father destroyed it.
The brake line had been cut.
Marcus cursed under his breath.
Sophia slowly sat down.
I continued.
I confronted your father.
He begged me to stay silent.
He said exposing the truth would destroy our family.
He made me swear never to tell you unless Richard ever tried to take everything.
Charles...
I believe your accident was never meant to kill you.
It was meant to erase your memory.
A chill swept through the room.
Richard hadn't simply taken advantage of my amnesia.
Someone had planned it.
Years before.
Emily suddenly whispered,
"Dad..."
"I remember something."
I rushed to her bedside.
"What is it?"
She closed her eyes.
"The night before the wedding..."
"I couldn't sleep."
"So I walked onto the balcony."
Her breathing became uneven.
"I heard Daniel arguing with someone."
"Who?"
"I couldn't see."
"But..."
"The voice..."
She frowned.
"It sounded old."
"Older than Uncle Richard."
Marcus looked at me.
"My grandfather?"
I shook my head.
"My father died ten years ago."
Emily slowly nodded.
"I know."
"It wasn't him."
"But whoever it was..."
"Richard called him..."
"...'Mr. Black.'"
The name meant nothing.
To me.
To Marcus.
Even to Emily.
But Sophia...
Dropped the letter.
Her face turned white.
"No..."
She whispered.
"He can't still be alive."
I grabbed her shoulders.
"Who is Mr. Black?"
She looked at me with pure terror.
"He doesn't work for the Williams family."
"He owns people."
"What are you talking about?"
She struggled to breathe.
"Twenty-five years ago..."
"Richard wasn't powerful enough to erase your accident."
"He needed help."
"There was only one man in America who could make evidence disappear..."
"...make witnesses vanish..."
"...and make police investigations die overnight."
She whispered the name like it was a curse.
"Mr. Black."
"The man everyone thought was only a myth."
Before anyone could speak—
Marcus's phone buzzed.
He answered.
His expression darkened.
"What?"
He looked at me.
"Our team searched Richard's private office."
"And?"
"They found a hidden vault."
"What was inside?"
Marcus took a slow breath.
"Thousands of files."
"On politicians."
"Judges."
"CEOs."
"Police commissioners."
I frowned.
"Blackmail?"
Marcus nodded.
"But that's not the shocking part."
He placed a single photograph on the bed.
It was old.
Taken twenty-six years ago.
A young Richard.
A much younger me.
My father.
And standing between them...
A tall man dressed entirely in black.
His face half-hidden beneath a fedora.
Across the back of the photograph, someone had written six chilling words in black ink.
Every king serves someone greater.
Richard wasn't the mastermind.
He never had been.
He was only...
May you like
Someone else's obedient son.
End of Chapter 8
