Everyone Laughed at the Single Father at the Reunion—Then a Billionaire Crossed the Room for Him
Chapter 13
Edmund Vale disappeared before sunset.
For three days, no one knew where he had gone.
Then Nathaniel received a letter.
Meet me at the river warehouse.
He showed it to Thomas.
“It’s a trap,” Thomas said.
“I know.”
“Then don’t go.”
“I have to.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because he has one thing we don’t.”
“What?”
“Margaret’s final statement.”
Thomas went silent.
They went together.
The warehouse was empty.
At first.
Then Vale appeared above them on the wooden balcony.
“You should have left this alone.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“You killed my wife.”
Vale shook his head.
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
Vale looked at Nathaniel.
“Your father’s men.”
Nathaniel’s face hardened.
“My father?”
“Your father ordered Margaret silenced.”
Thomas felt the world tilt.
Nathaniel looked sick.
Vale continued.
“But she survived long enough to hide the evidence.”
Thomas clenched his fists.
“Why tell us?”
“Because I am finished.”
He threw a packet down.
Thomas caught it.
Margaret’s final statement.
It confirmed what Vale had said.
Nathaniel’s father had ordered her threatened.
But Margaret had never been killed by him.
Her illness had been real.
Vale had simply used her death to conceal the evidence.
Thomas’s eyes filled.
He had spent three years believing he had lost Margaret to fate.
Now he knew fear had followed her to the end.
Vale continued.
“Your wife knew I would come after the records.”
Thomas looked up.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“And she trusted me to find them.”
Vale smiled.
“She trusted the right man.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Nathaniel.
“She trusted both of us.”
Suddenly a shot rang out.
Vale fell.
Thomas ducked.
Nathaniel grabbed him.
Across the warehouse, Mercer stood with a pistol.
He fired again.
The shot struck the wooden railing.
Thomas rushed forward.
Nathaniel tackled Mercer.
They crashed against the floor.
Mercer fought desperately.
Thomas seized his wrist.
“It’s over.”
Mercer laughed.
“You think truth matters?”
Thomas looked him directly in the eyes.
“It does now.”
The sheriff and constables arrived moments later.
Mercer was arrested.
Vale survived his wound and was taken into custody.
The conspiracy finally collapsed.
But Thomas still had one question.
Why had Margaret chosen him?
The answer was in her final letter.
