Chapter 8 - AUNT ELAINE

Elaine lived in Scottsdale now.

Investigators searched her Arizona home and found three external drives inside a locked fireproof box.

One was labeled FAMILY.

Another said BENNETT.

The third had no label.

The unlabeled drive contained copies of the party footage.

Not just the video I found.

Every camera angle.

Every rehearsal.

Every planning conversation.

Elaine had kept everything.

"Insurance," Rachel said.

"Against who?"

"Everyone."

One recording showed my father pacing in his study.

Marcus sat across from him.

Elaine stood by the window.

Dad said, "Once the board sees Liam is unstable, we can move guardianship."

Marcus replied, "And Victoria?"

"She gets paid."

Elaine interrupted.

"How much?"

Dad looked at her.

"You worried about her?"

"No. I'm worried about me."

There it was.

Elaine had never been loyal.

She had been negotiating.

Another file showed Dad and Elaine bargaining over her payoff. They settled on three million dollars.

Nora looked at me.

"Everybody had a number."

Then we opened the final folder.

ELAINE_BACKUP.

Inside were bank records, private messages, and one letter.

To Liam, if you ever find this.

My aunt had written it.

If Harold dies before I do, he will take the truth with him. I am not innocent. I helped because I believed the family company belonged to us, not to a child.

I stopped reading.

Elaine admitted hiding the original memory card in Dad's travel bag after Evelyn threatened to expose them.

"Why?" I asked.

Nora read ahead.

Because if Harold ever tried to blame me, the video was my protection.

The truth survived because none of them trusted each other.

Then Rachel found an attached spreadsheet.

Payments.

Three million promised to Elaine.

Two million to Victoria.

Five percent equity to Marcus.

And one entry I did not recognize.

LJ — FUTURE CONTROL.

I stared at it.

"LJ?"

Rachel looked at me.

"Could be Liam Junior."

My son was sixteen.

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He had found the travel bag.

And someone had written his initials into a plan made six years before he ever knew the video existed.