Everyone Laughed at the Single Father at the Reunion—Then a Billionaire Crossed the Room for Him
Chapter 9
They rode to the Blackwood Mill.
The gates were locked.
Guards stood outside.
Thomas looked at Nathaniel.
“How can they seize your property without a ruling?”
“They can’t.”
“Then why have they?”
“Because someone inside the court is helping them.”
Nathaniel dismounted.
A guard blocked his path.
“By order of the judge.”
Nathaniel stared at him.
“Move.”
The guard hesitated.
Thomas stepped forward.
“He said move.”
The guard looked at Thomas.
“You think you have authority?”
“No.”
Thomas glanced at Nathaniel.
“But he does.”
The guard moved.
Inside the mill, everything had been searched.
Documents were scattered across the floor.
Machines had been stopped.
Workers stood outside uncertainly.
Nathaniel walked to the office.
The hidden chamber was behind a false wall.
It had been opened.
The copies were gone.
Thomas felt despair rising.
Then he noticed something.
A small scratch on the floor.
A wooden crate had been moved.
He pushed it aside.
Behind it was another compartment.
Inside was a journal.
Margaret’s handwriting.
Thomas sat down.
The first page contained a message.
Thomas, if you ever find this, forgive me for keeping this from you.
His eyes blurred.
He continued.
I did not tell you because I believed ignorance would keep you safe.
Thomas pressed his hand to his mouth.
Nathaniel stood silently behind him.
Margaret’s journal explained everything.
She had discovered the scheme years earlier.
She had hidden the evidence in three places.
The old mill.
The Blackwood Mill.
And one final location.
The place where Thomas and Margaret had first met.
Their farm.
Thomas stared.
“She hid something there.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
Thomas turned the page.
The final sentence read:
The third key is beneath the stone where Clara was born.
Thomas froze.
Clara had been born at home.
In the old farmhouse.
There was one stone in the cellar Margaret had always forbidden him to move.
They rode home that night.
Rain began falling.
Thomas entered the cellar.
He found the stone.
Nathaniel helped lift it.
Beneath was a small wooden chest.
Thomas opened it.
Inside was the missing confession.
But there was another letter.
This one addressed to Clara.
Thomas read it.
Then his hands began shaking.
Margaret had written:
My daughter, if you ever read this, there is something you must know about your father.
