He Came Home Early and Heard His Mother Threatening His Wife—Then a Hidden Secret Was Revealed
Chapter 12
Michael returned home immediately.
Emily was waiting with the documents.
She looked exhausted.
Michael placed Eleanor’s papers on the table.
“What did you find?”
Emily showed him an old bank record.
Margaret had indeed received money from a Northstar company.
But the payments had stopped twenty years ago.
Michael frowned.
“Why?”
Emily pointed to another document.
“Because your mother turned against them.”
Daniel examined it.
The money transfers stopped exactly one week after Daniel’s supposed death.
Michael looked at him.
“What happened then?”
Daniel remembered.
“That’s when Margaret found me.”
Emily nodded.
“Your mother wasn’t working for Eleanor after that.”
Michael felt relieved.
But then Emily showed him another file.
“There’s something else.”
It was a letter from Margaret.
Written twenty years earlier.
Michael read it.
I helped build this monster. I believed Richard when he said we were helping ordinary people. I didn’t know what Eleanor intended. When I discovered the truth, I tried to leave. They threatened my son.
Michael’s eyes filled with tears.
His mother had been involved.
But she had eventually tried to escape.
Michael walked into the kitchen.
Margaret was there.
He placed the letter on the counter.
“Tell me the truth.”
Margaret looked at it.
Then closed her eyes.
“I was part of it.”
Michael felt betrayed.
“For how long?”
“Seven years.”
“Why?”
“Your father convinced me we were helping people.”
She explained that Eleanor had initially presented Northstar as a development project.
They would buy abandoned land.
Build infrastructure.
Create jobs.
But slowly, the plan changed.
Families were forced out.
Officials were bribed.
People disappeared.
Margaret tried to leave.
Eleanor threatened Michael.
“He was five years old.”
Margaret began crying.
“I couldn’t risk your life.”
Michael understood.
She had stayed long enough to protect him.
Then she helped Daniel escape.
She had spent twenty years carrying the guilt.
Michael hugged her.
But something still bothered him.
“Eleanor said you weren’t protecting me.”
Margaret looked frightened.
“What else does she know?”
Before anyone could answer, a federal agent arrived.
“We found Eleanor’s private records.”
Michael turned.
“Where is she?”
“Missing.”
“She escaped?”
The agent nodded.
“But we found something else.”
He handed Michael a photograph.
It showed Eleanor meeting someone recently.
Michael stared.
The person beside her was impossible to mistake.
It was Thomas Hale.
Michael looked at Daniel.
“Thomas?”
Daniel’s face went pale.
“He’s been working for her.”
Michael felt his stomach drop.
Thomas had helped them.
Thomas had led them to Daniel.
Thomas had given them evidence.
But if he was working for Eleanor, then perhaps everything had been manipulated.
The agent continued.
“We also discovered that the person who tipped Eleanor off about your movements was someone close to you.”
Michael looked at Emily.
Then Margaret.
Then Daniel.
No one spoke.
Suddenly, the lights went out.
The house fell into darkness.
A phone began ringing.
Michael answered.
Thomas’s voice came through.
“I’m sorry.”
Then the line went dead.
