Chapter 4 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER DIED
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
I couldn't breathe.
My father's funeral had been one of the most painful memories of my childhood.
I remembered the black cars.
The flowers.
My mother's trembling hands.
The closed coffin.
The newspaper articles.
My father's company had supposedly collapsed months later.
Then the lawyers came.
Then the assets disappeared.
And my mother told me there was nothing left.
Nothing.
I'd spent twenty years believing it.
But now a stranger was telling me my father might still be alive.
Daniel immediately stopped the recording.
“Maya, we need to be careful.”
“No.”
My voice was barely audible.
“Play it again.”
He did.
Every word.
Every pause.
Every breath.
When it ended, I whispered:
“Find my father's death certificate.”
Daniel stared at me.
“I'll get it.”
“And the autopsy.”
He hesitated.
“You've never asked for that before.”
“I've never had a reason to.”
I looked down at my bandaged hands.
“Now I do.”
Two hours later, Daniel returned.
He looked disturbed.
He placed a file on my bed.
“This isn't right.”
I opened it.
The death certificate was there.
But the medical examiner's report was missing.
“Where is the autopsy?”
“According to the records…”
He stopped.
“What?”
“There wasn't one.”
My heart skipped.
“That doesn't make sense.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your father supposedly died after a private plane crash.”
I stared at him.
“There should have been an identification.”
“There was.”
“How?”
“Dental records.”
I felt a chill.
“Who provided them?”
Daniel slowly looked up.
“Your mother's attorney.”
My mother.
The woman who had told me everything was gone.
The woman who had encouraged me to trust Logan.
The woman who had spent years insisting my father died with nothing but debt behind him.
I suddenly remembered something.
A phrase Logan had once said during an argument.
Your family has been lying to you your entire life.
At the time, I thought he was trying to manipulate me.
Now I wasn't sure.
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
Then his face went pale.
“What?”
He listened.
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“Send it immediately.”
He hung up.
I waited.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at me.
“We found your father's original insurance file.”
My heart pounded.
“And?”
“The beneficiary was changed six months before his supposed death.”
“To whom?”
Daniel swallowed.
“To you.”
I stared at him.
Then he added:
“But the person who changed it…”
May you like
He pushed the file toward me.
“…was Logan Vance.”
