PART 9: – “Three days after I quietly sold my farm for $39 million,”

I felt the words hit me like a physical blow.

Miriam closed her eyes.

I whispered:

“Two?”

Elias nodded.

“One was you.”

“And the other?”

He looked at Miriam.

She shook her head.

“Don’t.”

Elias ignored her.

“The other child was your brother.”

My entire body froze.

I stared at him.

“My brother?”

“Yes.”

I could barely speak.

“Where is he?”

Elias’s expression changed.

“That is the question your father spent the rest of his life trying to answer.”

I looked at Miriam.

“You knew?”

She nodded slowly.

“I knew there had been another child.”

“You knew I had a brother?”

“Yes.”

“And you never told me?”

“Your mother made me promise.”

I felt anger rise inside me.

“Everyone promised something.”

Miriam’s eyes filled with tears.

“I was trying to protect you.”

“Everyone says that.”

I slammed my hand against the desk.

“Protect me from what?”

Elias spoke quietly.

“From the people who believed your brother was worth more than your family.”

I stared at him.

“What does that mean?”

He placed another document on the desk.

“This.”

I looked down.

It was an old financial agreement.

The paper was yellowed.

The signatures were faded.

But one name was perfectly clear.

Elias Voss.

Another:

Richard — my father.

And another:

Daniel Mercer.

I read the first paragraph.

It described a trust.

A family trust.

But then I saw something that made my heart race.

The trust had been established before I was born.

And the beneficiary section contained two names.

Mine.

And another name.

The second name had been crossed out.

Not erased.

Crossed out.

I leaned closer.

The name underneath was still partially visible.

Lucas.

I looked up.

“Lucas?”

Elias nodded.

“Your brother.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“Why was his name crossed out?”

Elias looked at Miriam.

Then back at me.

“Because someone paid to remove him.”

“Who?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

Then he said:

“Your father.”

I stepped backward.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“My father wouldn’t do that.”

“He did.”

“Why?”

“Because he believed he was saving your life.”

I shook my head.

“This makes no sense.”

Elias pulled out another document.

“This was the original trust agreement.”

He pointed to a paragraph.

“Your father was deeply in debt.”

I stared at the numbers.

The debt was enormous.

Far beyond anything I had ever known.

“Your father borrowed money from me,” Elias continued.

“For what?”

“To save the family business.”

“And what did you want in return?”

“Collateral.”

“What collateral?”

Elias looked at me.

“You.”

I felt sick.

“My father used me as collateral?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then explain it.”

“He used your future inheritance.”

I looked down at the trust.

“The farm?”

“Yes.”

“The farm was part of the trust?”

“Yes.”

I stared at the documents.

“So the $39 million…”

“Was never just the value of the farm.”

“What was it?”

“The value of the promise your father made.”

I looked at him.

“What promise?”

Elias took a slow breath.

“Your father promised that when the trust matured, the property would be sold and the proceeds would settle the debt.”

My mind raced.

“But why was my name on everything?”

“Because your father wanted the trust to appear independent.”

“Why?”

“Because if creditors discovered he controlled it, they could seize it.”

“So he put everything in my name.”

“Yes.”

“And my brother?”

Elias’s expression darkened.

“Your brother was the problem.”

“Why?”

“Because there were two beneficiaries.”

I stared at him.

“Two children meant two claims.”

“Yes.”

“So Dad removed Lucas.”

“He didn’t remove him.”

“What did he do?”

“He hid him.”

My heart broke.

“Where?”

Elias shook his head.

“That is what we never discovered.”

I turned to Miriam.

“You knew this.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Your father told me.”

“When?”

“When you were seventeen.”

I remembered the supplemental birth-record request.

“When you requested my identity verification.”

Miriam nodded.

“That was the beginning of my investigation.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because your father was still alive.”

“So?”

“He told me that if I told you before he was ready, you would be placed in danger.”

I laughed bitterly.

“My entire life has been one giant secret.”

Miriam looked down.

“I know.”

Elias moved toward the window.

“I need to tell you something about Daniel.”

I looked at him.

“What?”

“Daniel didn’t create the scheme.”

“I know.”

“He was sent to manage it.”

“By you?”

“No.”

“Then who?”

Elias turned around.

“Your father.”

I stared at him.

“My father hired Daniel?”

“Yes.”

“But Daniel worked for you.”

“Before he worked for your father.”

I felt a chill.

“So Dad knew him.”

“Long before you knew his name.”

“Then why did Dad tell me Daniel was only a financial consultant?”

“Because he wanted you to believe the financial problems were ordinary.”

I shook my head.

“They weren’t.”

“No.”

“They were connected to Lucas.”

“Yes.”

“And the farm.”

“Yes.”

“And the trust.”

“Yes.”

I looked at the photograph.

“What happened to Lucas?”

Elias’s expression became serious.

“That’s where the story becomes complicated.”

“Tell me.”

“On the night you were born, your mother gave birth to twins.”

I closed my eyes.

“Twins.”

“Yes.”

“Boy and girl?”

“Yes.”

“Me and Lucas.”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“Your mother was exhausted. Your father was terrified. There were people at the hospital asking questions.”

“What people?”

“Daniel.”

“Why?”

“He was looking for the trust documents.”

“Why would he look for them at a hospital?”

“Because your father had brought them there.”

I stared at him.

“Dad brought financial documents to the hospital while Mom was giving birth?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because he was preparing to transfer the trust.”

“To whom?”

“To you.”

I looked confused.

“But I was a baby.”

“Exactly.”

Elias placed a document on the desk.

“Your father believed that if the trust were placed in your name immediately, it would be protected.”

“But Lucas was also a beneficiary.”

“Yes.”

“So what happened?”

“Someone changed the documents.”

“Who?”

Elias shook his head.

“We never proved it.”

I looked at Miriam.

She whispered:

“That’s why the original agreement matters.”

“What original agreement?”

“The one signed before the birth.”

My heart began pounding.

“The agreement in Locker 214?”

“No.”

Miriam shook her head.

“The document in Locker 214 was a copy.”

I stared at her.

“Then where is the original?”

She looked at Elias.

He answered:

“Your father’s house.”

I felt a chill.

“It’s been searched.”

“Not completely.”

“What does that mean?”

“There is a room nobody knew about.”

I stared at him.

“A hidden room?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Behind the old library.”

I thought about my childhood home.

The library.

Dad’s books.

The fireplace.

The wooden shelves.

The cabinet.

I remembered one particular wall.

There had always been a section of books that Dad never allowed me to touch.

I had assumed they were old business records.

Maybe they weren’t.

We drove to my father’s old house that evening.

The property had been empty for months.

I still had a key.

The moment I entered, memories came flooding back.

Dad’s chair.

Mom’s piano.

The hallway where Ranata and I had fought as children.

The smell of old wood.

Everything looked frozen in time.

Elias walked straight toward the library.

“How do you know?”

“Your father showed me once.”

“Why?”

“Because he knew I might have to retrieve something.”

He stopped at the bookshelf.

Third row.

Sixth book from the left.

He pulled it.

Nothing happened.

He pulled another.

Then another.

Finally, he pressed the wooden frame.

A soft click sounded.

The bookshelf moved.

I stared.

Behind it was a narrow doorway.

My heart began pounding.

“You knew this existed?”

Elias nodded.

“Your father built it after Lucas disappeared.”

I stepped inside.

The room was small.

There was a desk.

A chair.

Several boxes.

And a wall covered in photographs.

I walked closer.

Photographs of me.

As a baby.

As a child.

At school.

On the farm.

At family gatherings.

Then I saw another series of photographs.

A baby boy.

The same age.

The same hospital bracelet.

The same date.

Lucas.

I touched one photograph.

My eyes filled with tears.

My brother had existed.

My parents had held him.

Someone had taken photographs.

Someone had known where he was.

But beneath the photographs was something else.

A handwritten timeline.

Birth.

Trust created.

Records changed.

Lucas transferred.

Farm purchased.

Daniel introduced.

First financial agreement.

Second agreement.

And finally:

$39 MILLION SALE.

I stared at the final line.

Someone had planned the entire chain years before the farm was ever sold.

But beneath it was one final sentence.

When Fay discovers the truth, she will search for Lucas.

I turned around.

“Who wrote this?”

Elias didn’t answer.

I pointed to the handwriting.

“Who?”

He looked at it.

Then his face changed.

“I’ve never seen that.”

Miriam stepped closer.

“I have.”

I looked at her.

“Where?”

“In your mother’s journal.”

“Where is it?”

Miriam shook her head.

“Your mother gave it to me before she died.”

“Do you still have it?”

“Yes.”

“Bring it.”

Miriam reached into her bag.

She pulled out a small black notebook.

My mother’s journal.

She opened it.

Most pages were filled with ordinary notes.

Appointments.

Names.

Dates.

Then she reached a page near the end.

One sentence had been written repeatedly.

Lucas is alive.

My heart stopped.

I looked at Miriam.

“You knew?”

“No.”

She turned the page.

Another sentence.

Elias knows where he is.

I looked at Elias.

He had gone completely pale.

“You know where my brother is.”

He didn’t answer.

“Elias.”

Still nothing.

“Where is Lucas?”

He finally looked at me.

“I believed he was dead.”

“But Mom wrote that you knew where he was.”

“I thought she was mistaken.”

“You’re lying.”

He shook his head.

“No.”

Then he reached into his coat.

He pulled out an old envelope.

The envelope had been opened and resealed many times.

He handed it to me.

Inside was a photograph.

A young man.

Maybe eighteen or nineteen.

He was standing outside a building.

On the back was a date.

Only three years ago.

And beneath it:

Lucas Voss.

I looked at Elias.

“Why does he have your surname?”

Elias’s face changed.

Because suddenly I realized something.

The surname wasn’t Voss.

It was written in a different hand.

A correction.

The original name underneath had been scratched out.

I held the photograph closer.

The original name was still faintly visible.

Lucas Mercer.

My father’s surname.

My brother was alive.

And someone had spent eighteen years making sure I never knew.

Then my phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

One message.

STOP LOOKING FOR LUCAS.

A second message arrived immediately.

THE $39 MILLION WAS NEVER YOUR MONEY.

Then a third.

AND LUCAS ISN’T THE PERSON YOU THINK HE IS.

I stared at the screen.

Elias stepped closer.

“What did they say?”

I handed him the phone.

He read the messages.

His face went pale.

Then he whispered:

“They found you.”

“Who?”

He looked toward the hidden doorway.

“The people who took Lucas.”

I stared at him.

“And they’re coming for me.”

Elias nodded.

“But Fay…”

He looked at the photograph of my brother.

“There is something I haven’t told you.”

“What?”

He pointed to the photograph.

“Lucas didn’t disappear eighteen years ago.”

I frowned.

“Then when?”

Elias swallowed.

“Three years ago.”

The room went silent.

Three years.

The same year the farm’s value began rising.

The same year Daniel returned.

The same year the first serious financial documents appeared.

The same year someone began preparing the property for a future $39 million sale.

I looked at the timeline on the wall.

And suddenly everything made sense.

The farm wasn’t the end of the story.

It was the bait.

Lucas had been alive.

Someone had been waiting.

And the $39 million wasn’t the prize.

It was the reason someone finally decided to bring my brother back into the story.

I turned toward Elias.

“Where is Lucas now?”

Before he could answer, the lights in the house went out.

Miriam gasped.

A sound came from downstairs.

A door closing.

Then another.

Someone was inside the house.

Elias whispered:

“Don’t move.”

I heard footsteps approaching the library.

Slow.

Measured.

Coming closer.

Then a man’s voice came from the hallway.

“Fay.”

I froze.

I knew that voice.

It was Daniel Mercer.

And then he said:

“You’ve been looking for your brother.”

A pause.

“You should have asked me where he was.”

The hidden door began to open.

And Daniel stepped into the room…..

 

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