Chapter 5 - THE BETRAYAL INSIDE MY COMPANY
Thomas Grant was missing by morning.
His office had been emptied.
His phone was disconnected.
His house was abandoned.
But he left one mistake behind.
A locked safe.
It took our security team six hours to open it.
Inside was a collection of documents that turned my stomach.
False contracts.
Offshore accounts.
Payments to politicians.
Bribes to inspectors.
And dozens of pages concerning my sons.
Daniel spread everything across my conference table.
“This isn't theft,” he said.
“No.”
I stared at the documents.
“It's a takeover.”
Someone had been systematically weakening my company.
They had created fake losses.
Moved assets.
Inflated liabilities.
And manipulated my sons' accident investigation.
If my company collapsed, someone could acquire it for a fraction of its value.
I looked at Rebecca's name on one document.
“How long?”
Daniel sighed.
“At least three years.”
Three years.
My sister had been planning this while sitting at my dining table.
While attending family birthdays.
While hugging my children.
I couldn't understand it.
“Why?”
Maria stood quietly by the window.
“Because greed doesn't always begin with hatred.”
I looked at her.
“Sometimes it begins with entitlement.”
Her words hit me.
Rebecca had always believed she deserved a piece of everything I had.
My father's approval.
My mother's jewelry.
My company.
My money.
Even my future.
Then Daniel found something else.
A letter.
Handwritten.
From my father.
It was dated twenty years earlier.
The letter revealed that my father had created a private family trust.
I was the primary beneficiary.
Rebecca was entitled to a fixed amount.
Nothing more.
But there was a clause.
If I died without biological heirs, control would pass to a board.
My sons were the key.
Daniel looked at me.
“Rebecca couldn't inherit control while Ethan and Logan were alive.”
I felt the room go cold.
“So she wanted them removed.”
“Not necessarily killed.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“She wanted you to believe they were permanently incapacitated.”
Maria stepped forward.
“She needed you emotionally broken.”
“And financially dependent.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
My hands curled into fists.
All those months I had blamed myself.
I had believed my sons' disability was the reason our family had fallen apart.
But someone had been exploiting that guilt.
Then the front doors opened.
A police officer entered.
“Mr. Roberts?”
“Yes?”
“We found Victor Hale.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
“In a warehouse outside Long Beach.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then I want to see him.”
The officer shook his head.
“You can't.”
“Why?”
“He asked for an attorney.”
I understood.
He was scared.
Not of prison.
Of whoever was above him.
That night, I received an anonymous message.
STOP DIGGING.
Then another.
MARIA ISN'T WHO YOU THINK SHE IS.
I stared at the screen.
Maria saw it.
She didn't react.
“Are you hiding something from me?”
She looked directly at me.
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
“What?”
She reached into her bag.
She pulled out another photograph.
This one showed her brother.
And standing beside him was my father.
I couldn't speak.
“My brother worked for your father,” Maria said.
“What?”
“Before he became an automotive technician, he was an investigator.”
My father's face stared back at me from the photograph.
“He knew about the fraud.”
Maria's voice trembled.
“He was trying to expose it.”
“And my father?”
“He was helping him.”
I stared at the photograph.
“My father died believing he had failed to protect his family.”
Maria took a breath.
“He left instructions.”
“For what?”
“To find you.”
I looked at her.
“Why me?”
“Because he believed Rebecca would eventually come after you.”
I suddenly understood.
Maria hadn't randomly appeared in my life.
She had been sent.
But not to hurt me.
To protect my sons.
I stepped closer.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know whether I could trust you.”
That hurt.
“But now?”
She looked at Ethan and Logan through the glass doors.
“Now I know.”
Before I could respond, every light in the mansion went out.
The security alarms screamed.
May you like
Then a gunshot echoed from upstairs.
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