Chapter 14 - WHAT MY FATHER HID
Martin Shaw opened the East Ridge envelope with Detective Ortiz present.
Inside were bank records, audit reports, and a signed statement from my father.
Bianca’s family story was backward.
Charles Reed had not been forced out because Samuel Vance wanted control. He had been caught diverting more than two million dollars from the project. Dad discovered it before payroll collapsed.
Instead of exposing him immediately, Dad forced him out, covered part of the loss himself, and kept the scandal quiet to protect employees and investors.
Charles later told his children that Samuel framed him. After Charles died, the lie became family history.
“Adrian knew,” Martin said.
He pointed to an acknowledgment page bearing Adrian’s signature. He had been twenty-five.
I felt sick.
Bianca had built her revenge on a lie. Adrian had known and let her believe it.
That night, police arrested Adrian at a regional airport trying to leave under another passenger’s name. Faced with the kidnapping case, digital evidence, and Claire’s statement, he eventually started talking.
He admitted helping build the false record against Mom and accessing the hidden cameras. He claimed Bianca was only supposed to force Mom into care.
“She wasn’t supposed to drown her,” he said.
When Ortiz showed him the pool video, he finally gave them an address.
A storage facility thirty miles away. Unit 418.
Inside were duplicate house keys, copies of my signature, prepaid phones, stolen prescription forms, and a white wedding binder.
On the final page, Bianca had written our wedding date beside two names.
May you like
MARTHA — accident.
JULIAN — 90 days.
