Chapter 13 - THE FATHER WHO DISAPPEARED
David refused to believe her.
“My father died when I was a child.”
“That’s what your mother told you.”
“My mother never lied to me.”
“She lied to protect herself.”
Vanessa was taken to the police station, but David couldn’t stop thinking about her final words.
He returned to the burned mansion and searched the surviving files.
Among the damaged documents, he found a letter from his mother.
It was addressed to him but had never been mailed.
David read it alone in the rain.
Your father is alive.
He left because he was being threatened. I told everyone he died so they would stop searching for him.
David’s hands shook.
The letter contained an address in Oregon.
It belonged to a small mechanic’s shop.
Lily stood beside him.
“You don’t have to go.”
“I need answers.”
Emily, still weak, joined them.
“Your father may know who threatened your mother.”
David looked at the final page.
The letter ended with one sentence:
Trust no one connected to the Blackwood family.
They drove across the country.
At the mechanic’s shop, an old man stepped out from beneath a truck.
He had David’s eyes.
David stopped walking.
The man stared at him for a long moment.
Then he dropped the wrench in his hand.
“David?”
David’s voice broke.
“Are you Thomas Blackwood?”
The man looked toward the road.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“My mother said you were dead.”
“She had to say that.”
“Why?”
Thomas wiped grease from his hands.
“Because your grandfather wanted me gone.”
David felt the ground shift beneath him.
“My grandfather?”
“He controlled the estate before your mother. He wanted the company, the money, and the family name.”
“Did he threaten my mother?”
Thomas nodded.
“He hired men to follow us. When she refused to sign away the trust, he arranged a crash.”
David looked at Lily and Emily.
“The same pattern.”
Thomas lowered his voice.
“Your grandfather had one loyal employee.”
“Who?”
Thomas stared at the ring on David’s hand.
A black stone surrounded by silver.
“That ring belonged to him.”
David removed it.
The inside contained a hidden engraving.
N.R.
May you like
Nathan Reed.
CLIFFHANGER: Nathan had not been merely David’s partner—he had been working for David’s grandfather from the beginning.
