CHAPTER 2 — The Family Secret Buried With An Empty Coffin
The silence inside the mansion became unbearable.
Richard couldn't answer.
Instead, he reached for a chair before collapsing into it.
His wife Eleanor looked equally terrified.
Not joyful.
Terrified.
Amelia noticed immediately.
"I imagined this reunion every night for twenty-five years," she said softly.
"I thought Mother would hug me first."
Eleanor's lips trembled.
Instead...
She stepped backward.
Michael narrowed his eyes.
"Answer the question."
"What trust fund?"
His younger sister Claire looked confused.
"What trust fund?"
Michael turned toward everyone gathered in the ballroom.
"When Amelia disappeared..."
"Grandfather rewrote his will."
"He left half the Whitmore fortune to Amelia."
"If she was ever found alive..."
"The money belonged to her."
Gasps echoed through the room.
Claire stared at her father.
"I never knew that."
"You weren't supposed to."
Richard buried his face in his hands.
Amelia slowly looked around.
"So..."
"My family became richer because everyone believed I was dead?"
No one answered.
Then an elderly lawyer quietly entered the ballroom.
He had been Richard's attorney for over forty years.
His hands shook as he held a thick envelope.
"I warned you this day might come."
Richard closed his eyes.
"I know."
The lawyer placed the envelope on the table.
"The original inheritance documents."
Michael grabbed them first.
His eyes widened after only seconds.
Then he looked directly at his father.
"You forged the death certificate."
Complete silence.
Claire nearly dropped her champagne glass.
"What?"
Michael slammed the paperwork onto the table.
"The police never officially declared Amelia dead."
"But Dad filed private documents claiming she had died."
Richard whispered...
"I had no choice."
Amelia slowly stepped closer.
"No choice?"
Richard finally looked at her.
His eyes filled with tears.
"They told me..."
"...you'd never come home."
"Who told you?"
Richard didn't answer.
Instead...
Someone else did.
A voice from the back of the ballroom.
"I did."
Everyone turned.
Standing near the entrance...
Was Eleanor.
Holding another envelope.
May you like
"I lied."
"I lied to all of you."
