Chapter 5 - THE DEAD MAN'S SECRETNoah couldn't speak.
His father had supposedly died seven years earlier.
But the photograph proved otherwise.
Grace looked at him.
“Who took this?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel examined the image.
“This was taken in Zurich.”
Noah's face hardened.
“Why would my father be there?”
Marcus handed him another envelope.
“Because he was investigating Evelyn.”
Inside was a letter.
Noah recognized the handwriting immediately.
His father's.
Noah, if you are reading this, trust no one in the Parker family.
His hands trembled.
The company is being stolen from inside.
Evelyn is not acting alone.
Noah stopped.
The next line made his blood freeze.
Your mother knows.
Grace stared at him.
“Your mother?”
Noah's mother had died when he was twenty.
Or so he believed.
He looked at Marcus.
“Is she alive?”
Marcus didn't answer.
Noah grabbed his coat.
“Tell me.”
Marcus whispered:
“She disappeared.”
Grace's eyes widened.
“Why?”
“Because your grandfather arranged it.”
Noah stepped back.
The family history he had believed for thirty-eight years was collapsing.
Then Emily walked into the warehouse.
Grace screamed her name.
Emily ran into her mother's arms.
Noah crouched beside them.
“Are you okay?”
Emily nodded.
“Who brought you here?”
Emily pointed.
At a woman standing in the shadows.
Grace froze.
The woman stepped forward.
Older.
Elegant.
Tired.
Noah's mother.
“Mom?”
The woman began to cry.
“My son.”
Noah stared at her as if seeing a ghost.
“You're alive.”
“I had to disappear.”
“Why?”
She looked toward Grace.
“Because they were going to kill you.”
Noah's expression hardened.
“Who?”
His mother looked at Emily.
“Your aunt.”
Silence.
“She wanted control of the company,” his mother continued. “Your father discovered the theft. They staged his death.”
Noah shook his head.
“My father is alive?”
His mother hesitated.
“No.”
Noah closed his eyes.
“He died later.”
“How?”
“Because he refused to tell them where the evidence was.”
Grace whispered:
“What evidence?”
Noah's mother looked at Emily.
“Your daughter has it.”
Everyone turned.
Emily looked confused.
“What?”
Her grandmother smiled sadly.
“Your mother kept something for seven years.”
Grace's face went pale.
May you like
“What did I keep?”
“The original Parker trust.”
