Chapter 3 - MY FATHER NEVER STOPPED CALLING
Digital examination changed everything.
Dozens of calls from Dad had been blocked.
Emails filtered.
Messages redirected.
Some deleted automatically.
But backups existed elsewhere.
Dad had written:
Sophia, I don’t understand why you won’t speak to me.
Then:
If this is about Julian, I will respect your decision. I only need to know you’re safe.
Then:
Happy birthday, sweetheart. I love you.
I cried reading that one.
Julian had taken my father away without killing him.
Then he stood beside me while I grieved.
He held me when I cried.
He told me:
“You still have me.”
That memory made me physically sick.
But why?
Money seemed obvious.
Dad was wealthy.
I was his only child.
But the situation was more complicated.
The missing envelope contained a letter from Dad and instructions concerning a family trust.
Not ownership itself.
Not millions in cash.
A control mechanism.
Dad had recently discovered irregularities involving a real-estate partnership connected to Vance Development.
Julian’s family company.
Dad intended to vote against a major transaction involving them.
The envelope explained why.
If Dad became unavailable before my wedding, I would temporarily receive authority over his voting interest.
Julian apparently believed marrying me could help him influence that authority.
Except there was one problem.
I had never opened the envelope.
He needed me married.
Isolated.
Dependent.
Then he needed the document.
Suddenly our rushed wedding looked different.
Then Dad showed me something worse.
Before disappearing, Julian had taken a photograph of the envelope.
Security cameras captured him carrying it upstairs.
Later footage showed him leaving without it.
So where was it?
A search found torn paper in the fireplace.
But Dad examined it.
Blank stationery.
A decoy.
Julian had taken the real envelope somewhere else.
Then Evelyn finally asked for an attorney.
That told us she understood the stakes.
But before she stopped speaking, she made one mistake.
She said:
“You’re making Julian sound like some mastermind.”
Dad replied:
“Nobody said he acted alone.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
Dad noticed.
So did I.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Dad answered on speaker.
Julian.
“Sophia?”
I didn’t speak.
“I know you’re listening.”
Silence.
Then:
“Your father isn’t telling you everything.”
Dad’s expression didn’t move.
“What do you want, Julian?”
“The same thing Charles wants.”
“What?”
“The envelope.”
I looked at Dad.
Julian laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand, do you?”
Then he said:
“Ask your father why your name was removed from the original trust three weeks before our wedding.”
The call ended.
May you like
I stared at Dad.
His face told me Julian had finally said something true.
