The name seemed to drain the air from the room.
“Elias,” I repeated.
My mother nodded.
“I had forgotten him.”
Valeria looked confused.
“Who was he?”
“Your grandfather's first son.”
Margaret frowned.
“I thought Thomas was his oldest.”
“He was the oldest son everyone knew about.”
My mother stared at the photograph.
“Elias was born before your grandfather married.”
Valeria looked at the picture again.
“Then why was he involved with Evelyn?”
“Because Evelyn discovered what he had been doing.”
My mother explained that Elias had access to my grandfather's financial records long before my father did. He knew about the shell companies and property transfers.
“He believed the business should belong to him.”
“And Dad?”
“Your father inherited it.”
Valeria looked at the photograph.
“So Elias hated him.”
“They hated each other.”
“Then why did Dad work with him?”
“Because sometimes people cooperate with the person they fear.”
I thought of my father standing outside the basement door.
He had not looked like a man in control.
He had looked trapped.
Margaret searched the cabinet.
She found medical records for Chloe Ellis.
Then Evelyn.
Then a child.
Jonah Ellis.
The dates connected them.
Chloe had worked at the property where Jonah had been kept.
Evelyn had disappeared.
Jonah had vanished from the records.
Chloe had died.
Valeria had been declared dead.
The pattern was becoming impossible to ignore.
“What happened to Chloe?” I asked.
Valeria found another folder.
Inside was a photograph of Chloe with Elias.
She stared at it.
“He knew her.”
Margaret looked closer.
“So did your father.”
The next document was a payment record.
Elias had paid Chloe several times.
Then the payments stopped.
Two weeks later, Chloe disappeared.
My mother whispered, “He killed her.”
Margaret shook her head.
“We still need proof.”
A voice came from behind the basement door.
“You won't find it.”
We all froze.
My father's voice.
Valeria stepped backward.
“Dad?”
He entered slowly.
He looked exhausted.
There was blood on his sleeve.
My mother gasped.
“What happened?”
“Nothing that matters now.”
He looked at Valeria.
“You shouldn't have come here.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was alive.”
“Yes.”
“For seven years?”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
My mother slapped him.
The sound echoed through the basement.
“You let me bury her.”
He accepted the blow without defending himself.
“I thought I could keep her alive.”
“You let me pray for a dead daughter.”
“I know.”
“You watched me suffer.”
“I know.”
My mother struck him again.
This time he caught her wrist.
“I'm sorry.”
She pulled away.
“Don't say that.”
Valeria stared at him.
“Why didn't you tell me about Elias?”
“Because he would have killed you.”
“He nearly did anyway.”
“I kept him away as long as I could.”
“How?”
“By giving him what he wanted.”
“What?”
My father looked at the files.
“Information.”
He admitted that he had continued the family businesses because Elias threatened to expose the original crimes and destroy anyone connected to them.
When Valeria discovered the records, Elias demanded that she disappear.
My father staged her death.
“But Chloe?”
“I didn't kill her.”
“Who did?”
My father looked toward the door.
“He did.”
“Elias?”
My father nodded.
“Chloe tried to expose him.”
Valeria shook her head.
“Then why did you use her body?”
“I had no choice.”
“You always say that.”
He looked at her.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You protected yourself.”
He had no answer.
Margaret found a document on the floor.
“This says something different.”
She held it up.
My father looked at it.
His face changed.
“What is that?”
“A transfer order.”
The document showed money moving from Elias to someone else.
The recipient was Daniel Mercer.
Valeria whispered, “Daniel.”
My father nodded.
“Daniel worked for both of us.”
Margaret stared at him.
“Who ordered Chloe's death?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I don't know.”
A sound came from above.
Footsteps.
My father looked toward the stairs.
“It's Elias.”
Valeria backed away.
My father reached for her.
“Go.”
She hesitated.
“I won't leave you.”
“You have to.”
The basement door opened.
Daniel appeared.
He looked at my father.
Then at Elias behind him.
“It's over,” Daniel said.
Elias smiled.
“No. It ends when I say it ends.”
Daniel looked frightened.
My father stepped in front of Valeria.
Elias raised a handgun.
My mother screamed.
Margaret grabbed the ledger.
“Stop!”
Elias turned toward her.
She threw it across the room.
The distraction gave us a second.
My father pushed the door open.
“Run!”
We rushed toward the rear exit.
I heard shouting behind us.
Then a gunshot.
Valeria grabbed my arm.
“Keep going.”
We reached the trees.
Only then did we stop.
Margaret looked back.
“The shot wasn't meant for your father.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
She pointed toward Valeria.
“It was aimed at her.”
Valeria reached into her coat.
“I took something.”
She pulled out a photograph.
It showed Elias standing beside Chloe.
A young boy stood between them.
On the back were four handwritten words.
Jonah knows the truth.
Click here to continue reading: PART 8: The Locked Room Contained the Evidence My Father Feared Most, and My Mother Remembered the Night That Had Started the Lie
The Face on the Television Was Supposed to Belong to a Dead Woman, Until She Spoke My Name and Changed Everything
Part 7 of 26
