Chapter 12 - The Betrayal I Never Saw Coming
The police questioning lasted two hours.
Two hours of questions.
Two hours of watching strangers examine my life.
They asked about my father.
About Daniel.
About the house.
About the argument.
But every time they asked about Richard, I noticed the same thing.
They already knew the story.
Someone had been feeding them information.
False information.
When I finally left, Margaret was waiting outside.
“He filed a report claiming you attacked him first.”
I shook my head.
“Of course he did.”
She looked angry.
“But we have evidence.”
“The video?”
“Yes.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because they’re trying to slow you down.”
I looked across the street.
The black SUV was gone.
Thomas was gone.
But something inside me knew.
He wasn’t innocent.
That night, Margaret called me.
“We found something about Thomas.”
I sat up.
“What?”
“Daniel’s private investigation files.”
My heart started racing.
“Open them.”
A few seconds passed.
Then Margaret said:
“Emily…”
“What?”
“He wasn’t just Daniel’s business partner.”
“What else?”
“He was involved with Victor Lang.”
I closed my eyes.
The pain was almost physical.
Thomas.
The man who stood at Daniel’s funeral.
The man who acted like he cared.
The man who pretended to help.
He was part of it.
“How long?”
“Years.”
I looked at Daniel’s picture.
“How could he?”
Margaret was quiet.
“Money.”
That simple.
That ugly.
Money.
Then she said:
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Thomas wasn’t just leaking company information.”
My heart stopped.
“What was he doing?”
“He was helping plan the transfer after Daniel’s death.”
I felt sick.
“So he knew.”
“Yes.”
“He knew Daniel would die.”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Then my phone rang.
Thomas.
I stared.
Margaret said:
“Don’t answer.”
But I did.
“Hello?”
His voice sounded broken.
“Emily.”
I said nothing.
“I know you found out.”
“Why?”
A long silence.
Then:
“Because I was trapped.”
I laughed.
“Trapped?”
“You don’t understand.”
“No.”
My voice became cold.
“I understand perfectly.”
“I never wanted Daniel hurt.”
“Then why did you help them?”
Silence.
Finally, he whispered:
“Because Victor threatened my family.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He had something on me.”
“What?”
Thomas breathed heavily.
“Daniel found out.”
I grabbed the phone tighter.
“Found out what?”
His voice dropped.
“The truth about the accident.”
Everything stopped.
“What truth?”
Thomas whispered:
“Daniel wasn’t the target.”
My heart raced.
“What?”
“He was trying to protect someone else.”
“Who?”
Silence.
Then Thomas said the words that changed everything.
“Emily…”
May you like
“The person they wanted dead…”
“Was you.”
