Part 5 — The Truth
The investigators refused to let me go to the warehouse.
They found it within minutes.
By the time we arrived, police cars surrounded the building.
Richard was alive.
Barely.
He had been shot in the shoulder.
But he had managed to hide the recording before collapsing.
The investigators recovered it.
And that recording changed everything.
It showed my father entering the warehouse.
Edward Collins followed.
Daniel Voss followed.
And then another man entered.
A much younger Richard.
He was twenty-three.
Terrified.
My father argued with Edward.
Edward demanded the ledger.
My father refused.
Then Daniel attacked him.
Richard tried to stop them.
Edward pushed Richard aside.
My father fell.
The recording ended.
But another camera showed what happened next.
Richard called emergency services.
Then Edward took the ledger.
But he didn’t realize my father had already hidden a second copy.
Richard found it.
And instead of giving it to his father, he kept it.
For seven years.
He had spent those years trying to protect me while pretending to betray me.
It didn’t excuse what he’d done.
But it explained it.
Richard survived the shooting.
When I visited him in the hospital, he couldn’t look at me.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” he whispered.
“I don’t know if I can give it.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time I tried, someone threatened you.”
“You could have gone to the police.”
“I didn’t know who was clean.”
I sat beside him.
“What happens now?”
“They’re arresting my father’s associates.”
“And you?”
He looked at me.
“I’ll testify.”
I nodded.
Then I stood.
“I hope you do.”
He looked surprised.
“Sarah…”
“I loved you.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“But loving you doesn’t erase what you did.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know whether we’ll ever be together again.”
He nodded.
“I don’t expect you to.”
I walked toward the door.
Then he called my name.
“Sarah.”
I turned.
“I really did love you.”
I looked at him for a long time.
“Then you should have trusted me with the truth.”
And I left.
CONTINUE READ NEXT PART… 👇
