Chapter 12 - THE BETRAYAL NOBODY SAW COMING
The room exploded with suspicion.
Everyone stepped away from each other.
Nobody trusted anyone anymore.
Laura looked at Claire.
“Why are you looking at us like that?”
Claire shook her head.
“I’m not.”
But her eyes moved.
Toward Rebecca.
Rebecca noticed.
“No.”
Her voice was sharp.
“No, don’t even think that.”
Mark stepped between them.
“Everyone calm down.”
Laura laughed.
“Calm down?”
She pointed at the photo.
“We’ve been lied to by everyone we loved.”
Nobody answered.
Then Rebecca spoke.
“I know who was there that night.”
Everyone turned.
Mark stared.
“You do?”
Rebecca nodded slowly.
“I was there too.”
The room froze.
Laura whispered:
“What?”
Rebecca looked broken.
“I followed Sarah because I knew she was hiding something.”
“Why?”
“Because your father asked me to.”
Mark frowned.
“Dad asked you?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked at the photo.
“But I arrived too late.”
“What happened?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“When I got there, Daniel Cross was already gone.”
Claire stepped forward.
“Who was holding the weapon?”
Rebecca hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“Tell me!”
Claire’s voice exploded.
Rebecca whispered:
“Your father.”
Nobody moved.
Laura felt like the floor disappeared.
“My father?”
Rebecca nodded.
“But he didn’t kill Daniel.”
“Then why was he holding the weapon?”
Rebecca looked at Mark.
“Because he was protecting Sarah.”
Mark’s eyes widened.
“He took the blame.”
“Yes.”
The pieces began connecting.
Their father had not been hiding his crime.
He had been hiding someone else’s.
Suddenly, Evelyn looked at the photograph again.
“Wait.”
Everyone turned.
She pointed at the background.
“There’s another person.”
Mark looked closer.
Behind the group was a shadow.
Someone standing near the trees.
Someone watching.
Rebecca moved closer.
Then her face changed.
“No…”
“What?”
Rebecca stepped back.
“That person wasn’t supposed to be there.”
Laura looked at her.
“Who is it?”
Rebecca didn’t answer.
Because she knew.
The person in the picture was the person who had controlled their family for decades.
The person who caused Daniel Cross’s disappearance.
The person who destroyed their father’s life.
Finally, Rebecca whispered the name:
“Thomas Bennett.”
Everyone froze.
Thomas Bennett.
Their grandfather.
A man who had died twenty years ago.
Mark shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“No.”
She pointed at the photograph.
“Because your grandfather never died.”
The hidden room went silent.
Then the basement door slowly opened.
Everyone turned.
Standing at the top of the stairs was an old man.
Older.
Changed.
But unmistakable.
Laura felt the air leave her lungs.
Because the man they buried twenty years ago was standing there.
Alive.
And he smiled.
May you like
“Hello, children.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
