Chapter 4: My Father Had Left Me Eight Million Dollars
Chapter 4: My Father Had Left Me Eight Million Dollars
“It was your father.”
Emily’s words stayed in the air between us.
I stared at her.
“My father?”
She nodded.
“He opened the account.”
“When?”
“Before you met me.”
“How do you know?”
She wiped away a tear.
“Because my brother showed me the documents.”
I couldn’t move.
My father had died eight years earlier.
A stroke.
At least, that was what I had always believed.
He had spent the last year of his life retired, living quietly outside Dayton.
He had never mentioned Switzerland.
He had never mentioned millions of dollars.
And he had certainly never mentioned Emily’s brother.
I sat down.
“Why would my father put eight million dollars in an account under my name?”
Emily looked at me.
“Because it wasn’t really your money.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then whose was it?”
“The money came from the company you worked for.”
I stared at her.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does if your father was helping them hide it.”
“No.”
“He wasn’t stealing it.”
“Then what was he doing?”
She hesitated.
“Protecting it.”
I laughed bitterly.
“From whom?”
“From the people who were stealing it.”
I looked at her.
“So my father was involved in fraud, but he wasn’t the one committing it?”
“That’s what your brother believed.”
“Your brother.”
She nodded.
“He spent months trying to understand the transactions.”
“What did he find?”
“That money was being moved through several accounts.”
“Mine included?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever was behind it needed a clean identity.”
I stared at the floor.
My identity.
My name.
My records.
My life.
Someone had been using them before I even knew Emily existed.
“Why didn’t my father tell me?”
Emily looked away.
“Because he was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That someone would come after you.”
“Did someone?”
“Yes.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
“My brother never found out.”
“But you did.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
I knew she was still holding something back.
“What happened to your brother?”
She looked at me.
“The night before his accident, he called me.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he’d finally found the person behind the accounts.”
I leaned forward.
“Who?”
“He wouldn’t say over the phone.”
“Why?”
“He said someone was listening.”
My skin prickled.
“What happened the next day?”
“He died.”
Silence.
I thought about the recording.
Ryan’s voice.
Emily’s voice.
The third man’s whisper.
It’s done.
I played it again.
Emily listened.
When the whisper came, she suddenly stood.
“Stop.”
I paused.
“Why?”
She looked terrified.
“Play that part again.”
I did.
The man’s voice came through the speaker.
“It’s done.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“I know that voice.”
My heart started pounding.
“Who is it?”
She didn’t answer.
“Emily.”
She looked at me.
“Your father.”
I froze.
“That’s impossible.”
“He died eight years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then how can that be his voice?”
“I don’t know.”
She stared at the phone.
“But your father wasn’t alone the night he died.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The hospital records said your mother was there.”
“My mother died years before that.”
Emily nodded.
“Exactly.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“She died eleven years ago.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“Then who was with him?”
Emily whispered,
“Ryan.”
I immediately thought of the guest room.
“Ryan was with my father?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
I stood.
“Why didn’t Ryan ever tell me?”
“Because your father asked him not to.”
“Why?”
“He said you were safer not knowing.”
I grabbed my jacket.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Ryan.”
Emily caught my arm.
“Daniel, wait.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
She looked at me.
“Ryan wasn’t just helping my brother.”
“What else was he doing?”
“He was working for your father.”
I stopped.
“For how long?”
“Almost two years.”
I stared at her.
“Doing what?”
“Protecting the money.”
I suddenly understood.
Ryan hadn’t come to our house because of a hotel problem.
He hadn’t come because he needed a place to sleep.
He had come because he was looking for something.
Something my father had hidden.
Something worth eight million dollars.
I pulled up the recording again.
“What did Ryan say last night?”
Emily looked at the phone.
“He said he couldn’t find it.”
“Find what?”
“The file.”
I frowned.
“What file?”
“The one your father left behind.”
“Where?”
She pointed toward my office.
“In your house.”
My heart skipped.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Three years.”
I stared at her.
“Three years?”
She nodded.
“My brother gave me a copy before he died.”
“Where is it?”
“I destroyed it.”
“You said that already.”
“I lied.”
My anger rose.
“Then where is it?”
She reached into her pocket.
Slowly, she pulled out a small key.
I recognized it immediately.
It was the same key my father had given me when I was eighteen.
I’d always thought it opened an old storage box.
But I’d never found the box.
“What does this open?”
Emily looked at me.
“Your father’s safe.”
I stared at the key.
“Where?”
She whispered,
“Under this house.”
My phone suddenly rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
No response.
Then Ryan’s voice came through.
“Daniel.”
“Where are you?”
“Far enough away that you can’t stop me.”
“What are you looking for?”
Silence.
Then Ryan said,
“You already found it.”
I looked at Emily.
“What?”
“The safe.”
My heart pounded.
“How do you know?”
“Because your wife told me.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Ryan continued.
“She told me everything.”
I looked at my wife.
“You knew where it was.”
She whispered,
“I didn’t know what was inside.”
Ryan laughed quietly.
“That’s not true.”
“Ryan,” I said, “what happened last night?”
He became silent.
Then he said,
“I wasn’t talking to Emily about your brother.”
I frowned.
“Then who?”
“The person who came into your house after midnight.”
My blood went cold.
“No one came into my house.”
Ryan’s voice dropped.
“Yes, someone did.”
“Who?”
“The man who moved the eight million dollars.”
I gripped the phone.
“Who?”
Ryan didn’t answer.
Instead, he said,
“Go downstairs.”
“Why?”
“Look behind the washing machine.”
I stared toward the hallway.
“What am I looking for?”
“A door.”
The call ended.
I immediately ran downstairs.
Emily followed.
We entered the laundry room.
I moved the washing machine aside.
At first, there was nothing.
Then I saw it.
A thin metal outline in the wall.
A hidden door.
My hands shook as I inserted the key.
It turned.
The door opened with a heavy click.
Inside was a narrow staircase leading underground.
Emily grabbed my arm.
“Daniel…”
I turned.
She was staring at the darkness below.
“I’ve never been down there.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
She swallowed.
“Because my brother told me one thing before he died.”
“What?”
She looked into the darkness.
“He said your father didn’t hide the money.”
She paused.
“He hid the person who stole it.”
Then, from somewhere deep beneath the house, we heard a man’s voice.
“Daniel?”
I froze.
I knew that voice.
It was Ryan.
But Ryan was supposed to be miles away.
Emily whispered,
“That’s impossible.”
The voice came again.
“Daniel, don’t come down here.”
Then the lights beneath us switched on.
And at the bottom of the stairs stood a man I had never expected to see again.
My father.
Alive.
