Chapter 2 - THE MESSAGE FROM A DEAD MAN -
My father had been dead for three years.
Arthur Blackwood had collapsed in his office after what the family physician called a massive heart attack.
There had been no warning.
There had been no autopsy.
My mother had insisted that he be buried within four days.
At the time, I had been too consumed by grief to question anything.
Now an unknown person was claiming that he had known about the stolen money.
I stepped into an empty consultation room and called the number.
No one answered.
I called again.
The line rang once before disconnecting.
A third attempt went directly to voicemail.
I typed a response.
Who are you?
The answer appeared less than a minute later.
Someone who owes your father the truth.
I read the message twice.
Then I asked the question that mattered most.
What did he know?
Several minutes passed.
Your father discovered unauthorized transfers before he died.
He believed someone inside the family was using Elena’s identity.
I felt the room tilt beneath me.
The door opened, and Dr. Ramirez entered with a chart in her hand.
“Your wife is stable, but I want her away from stress.”
“She won’t be going back to that house.”
“Good.”
Her expression remained serious.
“She told me some things while you were outside.”
My jaw tightened.
“What things?”
“She said your mother restricted her food and took her phone when you traveled.”
I closed my eyes.
Dr. Ramirez continued carefully.
“She also said she was prevented from attending two prenatal appointments.”
I remembered those appointments.
Elena had told me she was tired.
She had claimed that she wanted to reschedule.
At the time, I had believed her.
Now I understood that fear had been speaking in her place.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Abuse rarely begins with the worst moment.”
Dr. Ramirez lowered the chart.
“It begins with small humiliations, isolation, and threats.”
I looked through the window again.
Elena had turned toward the wall.
For years, I had believed that providing a beautiful home meant I was protecting her.
Instead, I had left her inside a palace with the person who wanted to destroy her.
My phone vibrated.
Mara had sent an encrypted file.
The subject line contained only three words.
We have a problem.
I opened the attachment.
Lark Consulting had received $1.8 million from Blackwood Holdings over four years.
Northbridge Interiors had received $2.3 million.
Meridian Wellness had received another $970,000.
The missing $684,000 was only the most recent portion.
The total exceeded five million dollars.
At the bottom of the report, Mara had included a scanned authorization document.
The signature belonged to Elena.
It looked perfect.
There was only one problem.
The date on the form was the day Elena had been unconscious during emergency surgery after a car accident.
Someone had forged my wife’s name while she was lying in an operating room.
A new message appeared from the unknown number.
May you like
Do not trust the family physician.
Your father did.
