Chapter 4 - The Woman My Father Buried
The woman stepped out of the darkness.
She looked at me.
"Miles."
My entire body froze.
Because I knew that voice.
Not because I had heard it recently.
Because I had spent years trying to forget it.
My mother grabbed the edge of the table.
Daniel took a step backward.
The sheriff kept his hand near his weapon.
Nobody spoke.
The woman slowly walked into the light.
She looked older than I remembered.
Her hair was shorter.
Her face had changed.
But her eyes were exactly the same.
The same eyes from my childhood.
The same eyes from the last day I saw her.
"Rebecca..."
I whispered the name.
The woman stopped.
A small tear appeared in her eyes.
"You remember me."
I couldn't answer.
My mind was fighting against itself.
Because everyone had told me Rebecca Lane was gone.
Dead.
A person from my father's past who disappeared after a terrible accident.
At least, that's what I had been told.
But she was standing in front of me.
Alive.
The sheriff looked at my mother.
"Someone want to explain what is happening?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at Daniel.
His face had lost all confidence.
The man who had just tried to force me to sign away my father's house was now looking at a woman like he had seen a ghost.
"Daniel."
My voice was quiet.
"What did you do?"
He shook his head.
"I didn't..."
He stopped.
Because he knew nobody would believe him.
Rebecca looked at him.
"You always were a terrible liar."
Daniel's expression changed.
Anger.
Fear.
Regret.
All at once.
"You shouldn't be here."
The sheriff immediately noticed.
"Interesting choice of words."
Daniel looked at him.
"What?"
"You didn't say 'Who are you?'"
The sheriff stepped closer.
"You said she shouldn't be here."
The room became silent.
Daniel looked away.
The sheriff continued.
"That means you know exactly who she is."
I watched my brother carefully.
For my entire life, I thought Daniel was the person who knew everything.
The favorite son.
The one my parents trusted.
But standing there, he looked like someone whose secret had just walked back through the door.
Rebecca slowly approached the table.
She looked at the box my father had left.
Then she looked at me.
"Your father knew this day would come."
I held the letter tighter.
"My father knew you were alive?"
She nodded.
"He was the reason I survived."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
Rebecca looked toward my mother.
"Your mother never told you the truth."
My mother closed her eyes.
"Please..."
Rebecca ignored her.
"Your father found out what Daniel was doing."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Enough."
The sheriff moved between them.
"You stay right there."
Rebecca looked at me.
"Your brother wasn't trying to protect the family."
She pointed toward the deed.
"He was trying to erase your father's final decision."
I looked down at the documents.
"What final decision?"
Rebecca reached into her coat.
She pulled out a small envelope.
The paper looked old.
Worn.
Like it had been carried for years.
She placed it on the table.
"Your father changed the inheritance agreement before he died."
I stared at the envelope.
"Why didn't I know?"
Rebecca looked at Daniel.
"Because someone destroyed the original."
Daniel's face hardened.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
Rebecca laughed quietly.
"I was there when you threatened your father."
The room went completely still.
I looked at Daniel.
"You threatened Dad?"
Daniel's silence answered before his words did.
"It wasn't like that."
Rebecca looked at him.
"It was exactly like that."
My hands tightened.
I wanted to believe there was another explanation.
I wanted to believe my brother wasn't the person my father feared.
But every new piece of information pushed me closer to the same conclusion.
Daniel had been hiding something.
For years.
Rebecca opened the envelope.
Inside was a document.
She handed it to me.
"This is the real property agreement."
I read the first page.
My father's signature.
The date.
Everything was official.
Then I saw the sentence that made me stop breathing.
"The property shall remain protected by Miles Carter until the truth about the Carter family financial records is revealed."
I looked up.
"What financial records?"
Nobody answered.
The silence was too heavy.
I looked at my mother.
She looked terrified.
"Mom."
She sat down slowly.
"There was money."
I frowned.
"What money?"
My mother looked at Rebecca.
Then at Daniel.
"Your father discovered someone had been stealing from the family business."
The room changed.
Because suddenly the house wasn't just a house.
The deed wasn't just about property.
It was about something bigger.
Something someone had been willing to hurt me for.
The sheriff took the document.
"How much money are we talking about?"
Rebecca answered.
"Enough to destroy several people."
The sheriff looked at Daniel.
"Was that you?"
Daniel laughed.
But there was no confidence left.
"You all think this is simple."
Rebecca stepped closer.
"It was never simple."
She looked at me.
"Your father knew Daniel wasn't working alone."
My stomach tightened.
Again.
Those words.
Not alone.
I remembered my father's note.
"The person helping Daniel has been living inside this house for years."
I looked around the room.
My mother.
Daniel.
Rebecca.
Everyone had a connection to this secret.
I looked at Rebecca.
"Who was helping him?"
She hesitated.
That scared me.
Because Rebecca was not afraid of Daniel.
She was afraid of something else.
"Tell me."
She looked at the floor.
"Miles..."
"No."
I stepped closer.
"I spent years believing people who weren't there were dead and people who were there were protecting me."
My voice became harder.
"I want the truth."
Rebecca looked at me.
Then she said:
"The person who helped Daniel hide the money was someone your father trusted completely."
I waited.
"Who?"
Rebecca opened her mouth.
But before she could answer, the lights suddenly went out.
The entire house went dark.
Someone moved behind us.
The officers immediately turned around.
"Nobody move!"
A sound came from the hallway.
A door closing.
Then footsteps.
Fast.
Running away.
The sheriff grabbed his flashlight.
"Stay here."
He moved toward the hallway.
I followed.
"Don't."
He stopped me.
"Miles, whoever that was knew we were here."
I looked back at the basement.
Then at the missing second page of my father's letter.
Someone had entered this house.
Someone had been watching.
Someone had been waiting for the truth to come out.
The sheriff returned a few seconds later.
His face had changed.
"What is it?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Then he held up something.
A phone.
Not his.
Not mine.
Not Daniel's.
An old phone hidden behind the hallway wall.
Rebecca saw it.
And her expression disappeared.
"You found it."
I looked at her.
"Found what?"
She didn't answer.
The sheriff turned the phone around.
There was one message on the screen.
One name.
One word.
My blood ran cold.
Because the message had been sent only seconds ago.
May you like
And it said:
"Miles, ask Rebecca why she helped your father fake his death..."
