PART 4
I dropped the phone.
For several seconds, I couldn’t move.
The photograph remained on the screen.
My parents.
The house.
Peggy as a little girl.
And the boy standing beside them.
Thomas Hale.
Or whoever he had been then.
The message beneath it kept replaying in my head.
Ask your father who he buried fifteen years ago.
I picked up the phone again.
My hands were steady now.
Strangely steady.
Fear had burned through itself.
What remained was something else.
Determination.
I called Uncle Robert.
He answered immediately.
“Did you receive the photograph?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know.”
“No,” I said. “I don’t know anything.”
There was silence.
“I need the truth.”
Robert sighed.
“I think you deserve it.”
“Then tell me.”
“Not over the phone.”
“Why?”
“Because your father is involved in this, Kate. And if what I found is correct, this goes far beyond Tom.”
I looked at the clock.
“Where are you?”
He gave me an address.
It was a small office downtown.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Come alone.”
“I will.”
“And Kate?”
“Yes?”
“Bring the photograph.”
I drove through the city with my mind racing.
Fifteen years.
A family trust.
A forged signature.
A mysterious boy.
A dissolved company.
An $80,000 loan.
A missing groom.
And my parents somehow sitting in the middle of all of it.
When I arrived at Robert’s office, he was waiting with several folders spread across his desk.
He looked exhausted.
“Sit down.”
I did.
He pushed the photograph toward me.
“This was taken fifteen years ago.”
“I know.”
“Do you remember a man named Daniel Hale?”
I searched my memory.
The name meant nothing.
Robert watched my face.
“He was Tom’s father.”
I frowned.
“Tom told Peggy his parents were dead.”
“They aren’t.”
“Where are they?”
“His father is dead. His mother is alive.”
“Where?”
“Arizona.”
“Why did Tom tell Peggy both were dead?”
“Because he’s lied about almost everything.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Why was he at our house?”
Robert opened another folder.
“Because Daniel Hale was your father’s business partner.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What business?”
“Property development.”
“My father never owned a development company.”
“Not publicly.”
Robert placed another document in front of me.
It was an old partnership agreement.
My father’s name was there.
So was Daniel Hale’s.
And beneath them was another name.
Robert Mercer.
My uncle.
“You were partners?”
“For a short time.”
“What happened?”
Robert leaned back.
“Daniel wanted to use the family property as collateral for a development project.”
“Our house?”
“Your grandparents’ land.”
I stared at him.
“Our family owned land?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Almost forty acres.”
I had never known.
Robert continued.
“Your grandfather left it equally to his three children. Your father, me, and your aunt.”
“What happened to it?”
“That’s where everything went wrong.”
He opened another file.
“Daniel convinced your father that the land would become worth millions.”
“And did it?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Your father sold his share.”
“To Daniel?”
“To a company Daniel controlled.”
I frowned.
“That sounds legal.”
“It would have been, if everyone had agreed.”
“Who didn’t?”
“Your grandfather had placed the land into a family trust.”
I stared at the paperwork.
“The Mercer Family Trust.”
Robert nodded.
“And the trust required all three siblings to approve any sale.”
“What did Dad do?”
“He forged my signature.”
My mouth opened.
“Your father and I fought.”
“What happened?”
“I left.”
“And my aunt?”
“She disappeared from the business entirely.”
“What about the land?”
Robert looked at me.
“That is the part your parents never told you.”
He pulled out another document.
“The trust was never legally dissolved.”
I read the words twice.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your father never actually owned the entire property.”
“Then who does?”
“The trust.”
“And who are the beneficiaries?”
Robert looked directly at me.
“You.”
I couldn’t speak.
“Me?”
“You, Peggy, and your children.”
“But Peggy doesn’t have children.”
“Not yet.”
I shook my head.
“Why would Grandpa do that?”
“Because he knew your father.”
That sentence hurt.
Robert continued.
“Your grandfather believed your father would eventually gamble everything away.”
“He was right.”
“He was.”
I stared at the documents.
“Then why did Dad borrow $80,000 against the house?”
“Because he believed the house was his.”
“Wasn’t it?”
“Not entirely.”
“Whose name is on the title?”
“Your father and mother.”
“Then why isn’t the trust involved?”
“Because the house was transferred into the trust years ago.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“Your father never told your mother.”
I felt dizzy.
“So Mom didn’t know?”
“She knew there was paperwork. She didn’t understand what it meant.”
“That doesn’t excuse her.”
“No.”
Robert was quiet.
Then I asked the question that had been haunting me.
“Where does Tom fit into this?”
Robert’s expression hardened.
“Daniel Hale died twelve years ago.”
“And Tom?”
“Thomas blamed your father.”
“For what?”
“For his father’s death.”
I stared at him.
“What happened?”
“Daniel had financial problems. Your father refused to cover them. Daniel lost everything.”
“Did Dad cause his death?”
“No.”
“But Tom thinks he did.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what Daniel told him.”
I swallowed.
“So Tom came back for revenge?”
“At first, I thought so.”
“And now?”
Robert pointed to the papers.
“I think it’s bigger.”
He pulled out a list.
There were dozens of names.
Companies.
Accounts.
Transactions.
“Tom has spent years locating people connected to your father.”
I scanned the page.
“Why?”
“To recover money Daniel believed your father stole.”
“But Dad didn’t steal it.”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
Robert sighed.
“Your father did something worse.”
I waited.
“He took the trust documents and secretly transferred the remaining assets.”
“To himself?”
“No.”
“To whom?”
Robert pointed to a company.
CONTINUE READ NEXT PART… 👇
