BILLIONAIRE ARRIVED HOME UNANNOUNCED AND SAW THE MAID WITH HIS SON — WHAT HE SAW SHOCKED HIM
Chapter 3
Adrian spent the entire night reviewing the documents Clara had brought.
Every transaction led somewhere.
Every company had another company behind it.
Every payment eventually disappeared into accounts registered under different names.
But one name appeared repeatedly.
Marcus Hale.
Adrian’s former business partner.
The man he had believed was dead.
At 3:17 a.m., Adrian found something that made his hands shake.
A bank transfer dated four months after Marcus’s supposed death.
The account was active.
Someone had been using it.
Clara watched Adrian from across the study.
“You believe me now?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
He stared at the screen.
“Why did you become our maid?”
“To get close to Ethan.”
“Because Victoria asked you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three weeks before she died.”
Adrian looked up.
“Then why did you wait four years?”
Clara’s expression broke.
“Because I was scared.”
“Of Marcus?”
“Of everyone.”
She explained that Victoria had discovered a secret financial network inside Blackwood International.
Employees were being paid to falsify reports.
Investors were being deceived.
Money was being diverted into private accounts.
Victoria had gathered evidence.
But before she could expose it, she realized someone inside the company knew.
She became frightened.
She contacted Clara because Clara had previously worked in the company’s accounting department.
Victoria asked her to hide the evidence.
Clara agreed.
Then Victoria died.
After the funeral, Clara disappeared.
She changed her name.
She moved cities.
But she never forgot Victoria’s final request.
Protect Ethan.
Watch him.
Wait until the time was right.
Adrian sat silently.
“You could have told me.”
“I didn’t know if you were involved.”
Adrian looked offended.
“You thought I killed my own wife?”
“No.”
“You thought I knew?”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
Adrian couldn’t blame her.
For years, he had trusted almost nobody.
Perhaps that was why Victoria had chosen someone outside his world.
Someone he wouldn’t suspect.
Suddenly Ethan entered the study.
“Dad?”
Adrian turned.
“Go back to bed.”
“I can’t sleep.”
Adrian softened.
“What did Mom tell you?”
Ethan hesitated.
“She gave me something.”
“What?”
He ran upstairs.
A minute later, he returned with a small blue box.
Adrian recognized it.
Victoria had owned it.
Ethan opened it.
Inside was an old cassette recorder.
Adrian stared.
“Where did you find that?”
“In my room.”
Clara stepped closer.
Ethan pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then Victoria’s voice.
Adrian stopped breathing.
“Adrian, if you’re hearing this, something happened to me.”
His knees nearly gave way.
Victoria continued.
“Please don’t trust anyone at the company.”
Adrian looked at Clara.
The recording continued.
“There is someone I couldn’t expose.”
Static.
Then:
“Someone who has access to everything.”
The recording stopped.
Ethan looked confused.
“That’s all?”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed toward the recorder.
“There is another side.”
Adrian turned it over.
There was a second cassette compartment.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Adrian inserted it into his computer.
A video appeared.
Victoria sat in the same room.
She looked frightened.
“If you’re watching this, I couldn’t tell you in person.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Adrian, your father isn’t dead.”
Adrian froze.
His father had supposedly died twelve years earlier.
Victoria continued.
“He disappeared because he discovered the same network I did.”
Adrian couldn’t move.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Victoria’s voice trembled.
“They told you he died.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
His entire understanding of his family was collapsing.
Victoria leaned closer to the camera.
“The man controlling the network isn’t Marcus Hale.”
She paused.
“He is someone much closer to you.”
The video ended.
Adrian sat frozen.
Clara looked at him.
“Your wife knew something was coming.”
Adrian whispered:
“Who?”
Clara shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Then the study door opened.
Ethan stood there.
Behind him was one of the estate’s security guards.
The guard’s face was expressionless.
“Mr. Blackwood,” he said.
“There is someone at the gate.”
Adrian frowned.
“Who?”
The guard looked directly at Clara.
“A man who says he knows your wife.”
Then he added:
“He says he has proof she’s still alive.”
