Chapter 14 - The Person Evelyn Feared
Evelyn stared at the photograph.
Her lips parted.
For once, she had nothing cruel to say.
Julian picked it up.
"Who did this?"
Arthur locked the study door behind us.
"Nobody leaves."
Julian laughed.
"You think one of us did it?"
Arthur looked at him.
"I think someone inside this family has been lying for years."
"That's not exactly narrowing it down."
Mara moved toward the window.
"It's unlocked."
Arthur frowned.
"I locked it this afternoon."
The curtains moved in the night breeze.
Someone could have entered from the terrace.
Or left through it.
I looked at the word across my picture.
NEXT.
"Whoever took the drive was here while we were in the breezeway."
Julian looked at Evelyn.
She shook her head.
"Don't."
"What?"
"You know who uses that word."
Arthur turned.
"What does she mean?"
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Julian said, "Mom."
She whispered, "Northstar."
The room went quiet.
"What about it?" I asked.
She looked at me.
"Years ago, when someone stopped cooperating, they'd receive a photograph."
My stomach tightened.
"Marked like this?"
She nodded.
Arthur stared at her.
"How do you know that?"
Evelyn didn't answer.
His face changed.
"You saw one."
Still nothing.
"Evelyn."
She looked at him.
"William received one."
My father's name struck me like a physical blow.
"When?"
"Three weeks before he died."
Nobody moved.
I gripped the edge of the desk.
"You knew."
She looked away.
"You knew my father was threatened."
"Yes."
"And you said nothing?"
"I told Arthur."
Arthur stepped back.
"No."
She turned on him.
"You don't remember because you refused to believe me."
"I would remember."
"You remember what you want."
Arthur's jaw tightened.
I looked at him.
"Did my father tell you?"
He shook his head.
"I knew he was frightened. I didn't know about the photograph."
"Then where is it?"
Evelyn stared at the wedding picture.
"I destroyed it."
"Why?"
"Because Peter told me it was better for everyone."
I laughed once.
The sound came out ugly.
"Peter again."
Julian threw the photograph onto the desk.
"I'm done with this."
I looked at him.
"You don't get to be done."
He pointed at me.
"You think I knew about some threat fifteen years ago?"
"No. I think you knew enough to stalk me before our first date."
His mouth closed.
"And you knew enough to marry me for a filing deadline."
He stepped closer.
"You want an apology?"
"I want the truth."
"Then stop asking people who are lying to you."
His eyes moved toward Arthur.
Arthur stiffened.
"What are you implying?"
Julian laughed.
"Ask him who created the second backup."
Arthur's face changed.
I turned.
"You said only three people knew about it."
"Yes."
"Who?"
Arthur didn't answer.
"Arthur."
He looked at Mara.
Then Evelyn.
Then me.
"William Sterling."
My father.
The room seemed to shrink.
"He helped build the system?"
Arthur nodded.
"The security network originally covered business meetings in this room. William insisted on an offline backup."
"Where?"
"Not here."
My pulse quickened.
"Then where?"
Arthur looked toward the wall behind his desk.
"The drive Julian stole was the working copy."
He walked to the bookcase and removed a thick volume.
Behind it was a small brass switch.
He pressed it.
A panel slid open.
Inside was an old digital recorder.
Evelyn whispered, "Arthur."
He removed it.
"I thought this had been dead for years."
Julian stepped toward him.
"Give me that."
Arthur backed away.
"Why?"
Julian didn't answer.
Mara locked the study door.
Julian spun.
"What are you doing?"
"Making sure nobody takes this one."
Arthur connected the recorder to the old monitor using a cable from the cabinet.
The screen flickered.
Folders appeared.
Dates going back nearly two decades.
My hands shook.
Arthur scrolled.
Then stopped.
The date was three months before my father's death.
Evelyn whispered, "Don't."
Arthur looked at her.
"What are you afraid of?"
She said nothing.
He opened the folder.
Inside were several video files.
One had a title.
WILLIAM — NORTHSTAR — ORIGINAL SIGNATURES.
I couldn't breathe.
"Play it."
Arthur hesitated.
"Play it."
He clicked.
The study appeared on the screen.
Older furniture.
Different curtains.
My father walked into view.
Alive.
He looked tired.
Angry.
Arthur entered behind him.
Then Peter Caldwell.
My chest tightened.
The recording had sound.
My father slammed a folder onto the desk.
"These signatures were replaced."
Peter said, "Lower your voice."
"No."
Arthur looked at the door.
"William, we need to know who did it."
My father pointed at Peter.
"He knows."
Present-day Arthur gripped the desk.
On the video, Peter's face hardened.
"You have no proof."
My father laughed.
"I have the original page."
Evelyn stepped into the old recording.
I gasped.
She had been there too.
She moved toward my father.
"Give it to me."
He backed away.
"No."
Present-day Evelyn turned toward the study door.
Mara blocked it.
The recording continued.
My father looked at everyone in the room.
"If anything happens to me, Sophia gets everything."
Peter said quietly, "That's exactly the problem."
Then a fifth voice came from outside the camera frame.
A man's voice.
Deep.
Calm.
I didn't recognize it.
But Evelyn did.
She made a choking sound.
Julian stared at his mother.
"Who is that?"
On the recording, my father turned toward the unseen man.
"You shouldn't be here."
The man answered.
"Neither should your daughter."
My blood turned cold.
The timestamp showed this conversation had happened when I was twenty-six.
I had been living in Boston.
I had never been inside the Vance mansion.
Then the unseen man stepped partly into frame.
Only his hand appeared.
A gold signet ring.
Arthur whispered, "No."
I looked at him.
"You know him."
Arthur didn't answer.
On screen, my father stared at the man.
And said one sentence.
"If Sophia ever learns who you really are, none of us survives this."
May you like
Then the file abruptly ended.
📖 Read why the gold ring terrified Arthur and Evelyn—and what the next recording revealed about the man my father was protecting me from in CHAPTER 15. 👇
