CHAPTER 6 — THE FAMILY SECRET
CHAPTER 6 — THE FAMILY SECRET
Daniel looked genuinely stunned.
"My father?"
"That's impossible."
"It isn't," Hale replied.
"He was arrested beside Dr. Mercer less than twenty minutes ago."
I had met Richard Voss only twice.
A powerful businessman.
Generous in public.
Untouchable in private.
He had paid for Maya's wedding.
Bought the house.
Funded Daniel's struggling company.
Everyone called him devoted.
No one asked what he expected in return.
An hour later, after the funeral service finally ended, we gathered at the federal field office.
Richard Voss was brought into Interview Room Three.
Silver hair.
Perfect posture.
Expensive suit.
He looked more irritated than frightened.
His first words were not directed to the detectives.
They were directed at Daniel.
"You were careless."
Daniel stared.
"You knew?"
Richard sighed.
"I warned you not to involve Celeste."
The room fell silent.
Daniel's face drained of color.
"You..."
"You knew everything?"
Richard didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at me.
"You remind me of your father."
"I liked him."
"I wish your sister had listened to him."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"What does that mean?"
Richard folded his hands.
"Maya discovered something she wasn't supposed to."
Detective Hale slid several folders onto the table.
Financial records.
Wire transfers.
Shell corporations.
Offshore accounts.
Millions of dollars.
Richard barely glanced at them.
"You've already found the money."
"We have."
"So this isn't about fraud anymore."
"No."
"It stopped being about fraud when Maya opened Daniel's laptop."
Daniel whispered,
"You told me she never copied the files..."
Richard slowly turned toward his son.
"I believed she'd stay quiet."
"But she didn't."
I remembered a conversation with Maya two weeks before she died.
She had laughed nervously.
"Daniel keeps changing passwords."
"He thinks I don't notice."
At the time, I thought it was marriage trouble.
Now I understood.
She had noticed.
Everything.
Hale opened another folder.
Inside was a printed email.
Sent from Maya's account.
Never delivered.
Saved in drafts.
Addressed to me.
Subject:
If Anything Happens to Me
My hands trembled as I read.
Lena,
If you're reading this, I'm probably gone.
Daniel's father launders money through Daniel's company.
Daniel says it's only accounting.
It isn't.
I copied everything.
I hid it where no one would ever think to look.
Don't trust Dr. Mercer.
She isn't helping me.
She's helping them.
And if they can't get the files...
They'll make sure I disappear first.
The room was silent.
Then Hale looked up.
"The files."
"Where are they?"
I stared at Maya's final words again.
"I know."
Everyone looked at me.
"The baby."
Confused faces surrounded me.
"Maya once joked that our family hid treasures inside stuffed animals."
My heart started racing.
"She decorated the nursery herself."
"The white teddy bear."
"The one she refused to let anyone throw away."
I looked at Hale.
"If I'm right..."
"The evidence they've been killing for..."
"...has been sitting in the nursery since before Maya died."
Hale didn't waste another second.
"Move!"
Within moments, agents raced toward Maya's house.
None of us knew whether the teddy bear was still there.
Or whether someone had already beaten us to it.
But deep down...
Daniel did.
Because for the first time since this nightmare began...
May you like
He smiled.
And that frightened me more than anything.
