He hesitated.
Then he opened the door.
Elena entered.
She looked at the baby.
Her expression softened.
“She’s beautiful.”
I said nothing.
Elena placed the folder on the table.
“Ethan asked me to give you this if he couldn’t come himself.”
I stared at it.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“He disappeared two days ago.”
My heart dropped.
“He disappeared?”
“He had been investigating his family’s past.”
Samuel sat down.
“What did he find?”
Elena looked at him.
“A connection between Daniel Vale, Arthur Sterling, and your parents.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“So he knows.”
“He knows everything.”
I felt dizzy.
“What exactly does he know?”
Elena opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Bank records.
Property transfers.
Emails.
And one photograph that made my blood run cold.
It showed my father standing outside a courthouse.
Beside him was Daniel Vale.
And behind them stood a much younger Arthur Sterling.
The three men were looking at something off-camera.
Elena pointed to Daniel.
“Your father and Daniel were working together.”
I looked at Samuel.
“You said they were enemies.”
“They were supposed to be.”
“Supposed to be?”
Samuel looked devastated.
“I thought Daniel betrayed your father.”
Elena shook her head.
“He didn’t.”
She placed another document on the table.
“Daniel tried to expose Arthur Sterling.”
My heart pounded.
“He was trying to stop the scheme?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Grandpa think he was responsible?”
“Because Arthur made it look that way.”
Samuel’s eyes filled with tears.
“He destroyed my brother’s name.”
Elena nodded.
“Then he destroyed your parents.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because they had evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Elena looked at the metal box.
“That.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
“The documents your grandfather kept weren’t the only copies,” she continued.
“Where are the others?”
