Chapter 3 — The Man Behind the Disappearance Finally Told Me Everything
Chapter 3 — The Man Behind the Disappearance Finally Told Me Everything
For several seconds, neither Lauren nor I moved.
The voicemail kept playing in my head.
Your father didn’t die because of an accident.
I looked at Lauren.
She was staring at me as if she was waiting for me to deny what we had both just heard.
Instead, I asked quietly, “You recognize that voice?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’ve never heard him before.”
I looked back at the phone.
“Then why are you shaking?”
Lauren wrapped both arms around herself.
“Because I know what this means.”
“What?”
She swallowed.
“The people who recruited me told me your father was dead.”
I felt something inside me tighten.
“Who recruited you?”
“I don’t know their real names.”
“Lauren.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
She stepped closer to the kitchen island.
“When I met you, I thought I was being given a job. That’s what they called it. A job.”
“What exactly were you supposed to do?”
“Watch you.”
The word landed harder than I expected.
“You already told me that.”
“No.” Her voice cracked. “I didn’t tell you everything.”
I waited.
Lauren looked toward the windows.
Rain continued sliding down the glass.
“They didn’t just want information about you. They wanted information about what you remembered.”
“Remembered about what?”
“Your childhood.”
I frowned.
“My childhood?”
“They wanted to know whether you remembered your father’s company.”
I almost laughed.
“I was eleven when he disappeared.”
“I know.”
“Then what could I possibly remember?”
Lauren looked at me.
“Apparently, more than they thought.”
She reached into her purse and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
My father’s.
I had seen it thousands of times growing up.
The paper contained only one sentence.
Daniel must never be allowed to remember the night at the warehouse.
My stomach dropped.
“What warehouse?”
Lauren didn’t answer.
“Lauren.”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re holding a note written by my father telling people to keep me from remembering something, and you don’t know?”
“I swear I don’t.”
I took the paper from her.
There was a date underneath the sentence.
Eleven years ago.
Three days before my father supposedly died.
I stared at it.
Then something came back.
Not a memory.
A feeling.
The smell of gasoline.
A red emergency light.
Someone shouting.
And my father’s hand gripping my shoulder.
I closed my eyes.
A sharp headache hit me.
Lauren grabbed my arm.
“Daniel?”
“I remember something.”
“What?”
“I was in a warehouse.”
Her face changed.
“Don’t force it.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s exactly what they warned me about.”
I opened my eyes.
“Who?”
“The people behind the company.”
“What company?”
She hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Carter Holdings.”
I froze.
Evelyn Carter.
Her surname suddenly made sense.
“Evelyn?”
Lauren nodded.
“She knows.”
My phone rang.
Evelyn.
I answered immediately.
“Tell me everything.”
There was silence on the other end.
Then Evelyn said, “You heard the voicemail.”
“Yes.”
“Then there’s no reason to protect you from the truth anymore.”
“Who is the man in that recording?”
Another pause.
“Your father.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Evelyn.”
“I haven’t seen him in eleven years.”
“Then how do you know he’s alive?”
“Because he contacted me two weeks ago.”
Lauren looked at me.
I put the call on speaker.
Evelyn continued.
“He told me Mason had been approached.”
I frowned.
“Approached by whom?”
“Your father’s former business partner.”
“Marcus?”
“Yes.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“Marcus is alive.”
“Yes.”
“And my father is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did everyone let me believe they were dead?”
Evelyn’s voice became quieter.
“Because someone wanted you to inherit the company without knowing you were inheriting it.”
I stared at Lauren.
“What does that mean?”
“Your father created a trust before he disappeared. If you ever learned about the trust directly, control of certain assets would transfer to you.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know the exact current value.”
“Evelyn.”
“Hundreds of millions.”
The kitchen suddenly felt too small.
Lauren sat down.
I remained standing.
“All these years…”
“Yes.”
“My father didn’t leave me money.”
“He left you control.”
“Control of what?”
“Carter Holdings.”
I looked at Lauren.
She was crying silently.
“You knew about this,” I said.
She shook her head.
“Not all of it.”
“How much?”
“I knew there was an inheritance.”
“You knew?”
“I found out three months after we started dating.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Your father.”
I couldn’t speak.
Lauren wiped her face.
“The people who recruited me said your father was dangerous. They said he had betrayed his partners and disappeared with money that didn’t belong to him.”
Evelyn interrupted.
“That story was fabricated.”
Lauren looked at the phone.
“Then why did he disappear?”
“Because he discovered someone inside the company was stealing from it.”
I stared at the counter.
“Mason?”
“No.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Evelyn took a breath.
“Your uncle.”
I felt my heart stop.
“My uncle?”
“His name is Richard Carter.”
I had not heard that name in years.
Richard was my father’s younger brother.
When I was a child, he used to take me fishing.
Then, after my father died, Richard vanished from our lives.
My mother told me he moved overseas.
Evelyn continued.
“Richard wasn’t just your father’s brother. He was the person managing the company’s financial operations.”
“What did he steal?”
“Not money.”
“Then what?”
“Ownership.”
The word made Lauren look up.
Evelyn explained.
“Your father discovered that Richard had been transferring shares through shell companies. If your father exposed him, Richard would lose everything.”
“So my father faked his death?”
“He disappeared to protect you.”
I looked down at the note in my hand.
“Why did he need Lauren to watch me?”
“He didn’t.”
That answer confused me.
“What?”
“Your father never recruited Lauren.”
I looked at my wife.
Evelyn continued.
“Richard did.”
Silence.
Lauren covered her mouth.
“No…”
Evelyn said, “Richard wanted someone close to you. Someone who could determine whether you knew about the trust.”
I felt sick.
“So Lauren was working for my uncle.”
“At first.”
Lauren looked at me.
“I didn’t know.”
“You stayed.”
“Because I fell in love with you.”
“You still lied.”
“I know.”
The words came out quietly.
“I know.”
Then Evelyn said something that changed everything.
“Mason wasn’t Lauren’s lover.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“He was her handler.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
“Mason was the person Richard used to communicate with her.”
“So the affair…”
“There was no affair.”
I stared at Lauren.
She didn’t look relieved.
She looked ashamed.
“Then why did you tell me Mason was important?”
“Because I was trying to make you angry enough to leave me.”
“What?”
Lauren started crying.
“I thought if you hated me, you’d leave. And if you left, Richard couldn’t use me to get to you.”
I shook my head.
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Every time I almost told you, Mason reminded me what would happen if I did.”
“What did he threaten?”
Lauren looked toward the laptop.
“He sent me photographs.”
“Of what?”
She whispered:
“Your mother.”
I went cold.
Evelyn suddenly said, “Daniel, listen carefully.”
I turned toward the phone.
“Richard knows you’re investigating.”
“How?”
“Because the office you visited wasn’t abandoned.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Someone was watching you.”
The lights in our kitchen flickered.
Lauren stood up.
“What was that?”
I walked toward the window.
Across the street, a black SUV sat beneath a tree.
Its headlights were off.
A man was sitting behind the wheel.
Watching our house.
My phone buzzed.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
You should have listened to your father.
Another message followed.
Leave Lauren tonight.
Then a third.
Or your mother disappears again.
I stared at the screen.
Lauren stepped beside me.
“Daniel…”
I didn’t answer.
Because beneath those messages was a photograph.
It showed my mother.
Alive.
Sitting inside a room I had never seen before.
And standing behind her was a man I recognized immediately.
My uncle Richard.
Then another message appeared.
Tomorrow, come alone.
Bring the inheritance documents.
And don’t trust Evelyn Carter.