My Wife Died 4 Years Ago — Then I Saw Her Holding Another Man’s Hand on a Luxury Cruise
Chapter 9
I thought I had misheard her.
“My mother is dead.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
I stared.
“She died when I was a child.”
“That was the story.”
“My entire family is dead.”
“That’s what they wanted you to believe.”
My mother had disappeared when I was ten.
My father told me she died overseas.
I never questioned it.
Claire explained that my mother had been one of the original founders of Blackwater Meridian.
She had disappeared after a power struggle.
Then she returned years later under another identity.
She had recruited my father.
Used my brother’s identity.
And eventually discovered Claire had the ledger.
“She wanted to kill me?”
“She wanted the ledger.”
“Why did she blame me?”
“Because you’re the legal heir to your father’s accounts.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Claire touched my hand.
“She didn’t want you dead.”
“What did she want?”
“To control you.”
Then Adrian entered the cabin.
He looked at Claire.
“It’s time.”
She nodded.
“What?”
Adrian placed the ledger on the table.
A thin black notebook.
Claire looked at me.
“Your father hid it inside your mother’s old jewelry box.”
I stared.
“But that box was buried with her.”
“No.”
Claire shook her head.
“She never died.”
Suddenly, the yacht’s engines stopped.
Everyone froze.
A voice came over the radio.
“Daniel.”
I recognized it.
My mother’s voice.
“You’ve wasted four years looking for a woman who was never worth saving.”
Claire went pale.
The radio continued.
“Bring me the ledger.”
I grabbed the microphone.
“Mom?”
She laughed.
“Hello, son.”
I couldn’t speak.
Then she said:
“I’ve missed you.”
