Chapter 3 - The Sealed Envelope
Nathan spent the night in his study.
He couldn't sleep.
Every photograph on his desk suddenly looked fake.
Every family dinner.
Every business celebration.
Every conversation with his father.
All of it felt like a carefully staged performance.
At three in the morning, his attorney, Daniel Brooks, arrived.
Nathan stared at him.
“You knew.”
Daniel looked exhausted.
“I knew there was something.”
“What?”
Daniel placed a sealed envelope on the desk.
“This was found inside your father's private safe.”
Nathan recognized the handwriting immediately.
His father's.
“Why didn't you give it to me before?”
“Because the instructions said to deliver it only if Grace returned.”
Nathan's fingers tightened around the envelope.
He opened it.
Inside was a single page.
Nathan,
If you are reading this, then the truth has finally reached you.
Grace did not abandon you.
I made her disappear.
Nathan stopped breathing.
Daniel looked away.
The letter continued.
I believed I was protecting the Cole legacy.
But I made a bargain with people far more dangerous than myself.
Nathan's eyes moved faster.
Victoria's family was involved.
Nathan froze.
His engagement had never been an accident.
His father had arranged it years earlier.
The merger between the Cole corporation and Victoria's family's investment empire depended upon their marriage.
Nathan dropped the letter.
“No.”
Daniel said nothing.
Nathan picked it up again.
There was one final line.
Ask who ordered the evidence against Grace five years ago.
Nathan stared at Daniel.
“Evidence?”
Daniel's face changed.
“Yes.”
“What evidence?”
“The police file claiming Grace abandoned her child.”
Nathan stood.
“My daughter was never abandoned.”
“I know.”
“Then someone fabricated the entire case.”
Daniel nodded.
“And Nathan…”
“What?”
“There is more.”
Daniel pulled out another folder.
May you like
“Someone has just reopened that case.”
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