Chapter 14 - The Unmarked Box
One month passed peacefully in my new coastal home.
I bought a beautiful two-story house near blue ocean.
Surrounded by tall green trees and fresh sea breeze.
Far away from the toxic memories of past trauma.
I opened my own independent financial audit firm downtown.
Color and full health returned to my face skin.
My skin scars were completely gone under expert treatment.
I felt a deep sense of peace inside my heart.
Tonight was a quiet, warm evening in late summer.
The sunset painted the sky in shades pink gold.
I sat on my front porch drinking fresh tea.
A mail courier van pulled up to my driveway.
The driver stepped out holding a brown paper package.
"Delivery for Ms. Claire Morgan," the driver called.
I walked down porch steps, signing the digital pad.
"Thank you," I said, taking the small box.
The cardboard package had no return address listed anywhere.
I walked back to the wooden porch table carefully.
I pulled open the brown sealing tape with fingers.
Inside the box lay a sleek silver encrypted flash drive.
Beside the drive rested a single old photograph document.
I picked up the photograph with careful, trembling fingers.
The image showed an old medical facility deep in mountains.
Standing in front of the building was a tall man.
A man wearing an immaculate, expensive dark tailored suit.
He held a newborn baby girl in his arms.
My blood ran completely ice cold in a single second.
The man in the photo was my biological father.
The man I believed died thirty years ago today.
My biological father hadn't died of illness back then.
He was alive and standing outside the secret facility.
I flipped the photograph over to read back text:
"Hello, my brave daughter Claire."
"Linda and Robert were executing my instructions all along."
"I created the financial trust to test your mind."
"You passed the test, my brilliant girl."
"Now it is time for you to take over."
"I am waiting for you at mountain facility."
Pure, paralyzing, freezing terror flooded my entire body.
My biological father was the ultimate mastermind behind everything.
Robert and Linda were merely paid custodians raised me.
May you like
The entire family abuse was a calculated psychological test.
A test to see if I was strong enough to inherit.
