Chapter 10 - Margaret's ConfessionMargaret had nowhere left to hide.
The estate was empty.
The servants were gone.
The furniture remained only because the eviction team had given her until morning.
She stood alone in the grand foyer.
The same foyer where she had humiliated Evelyn.
Now every echo belonged to her.
Her phone rang.
“Hello?”
A man's voice answered.
“You've lost control.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“Then tell me where the ledger is.”
“I don't have it.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
A pause.
Then:
“Your son will suffer if you don't find it.”
Margaret's face collapsed.
“Leave Daniel out of this.”
“You should have thought about that before you betrayed us.”
The line went dead.
Margaret sank onto the staircase.
For the first time in her life, she was truly afraid.
Then she heard footsteps.
Daniel.
He stood at the entrance.
“Mom?”
Margaret looked up.
He noticed her expression.
“What happened?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“Daniel—”
“Who was on the phone?”
She remained silent.
Daniel walked closer.
“Mom.”
Margaret finally whispered:
“Your father didn't die when we said he did.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“He was alive.”
“For how long?”
“Six months.”
Daniel staggered backward.
“Where is he?”
Margaret began crying.
“I don't know.”
“Who does?”
She looked at him.
“Evelyn.”
Daniel stared.
“What does Evelyn have to do with Dad?”
“Everything.”
At the penthouse, Victor was explaining the same thing to me.
“Charles Hawthorne wanted Vanguard to buy his debt.”
I frowned.
“Why would he deliberately bankrupt himself?”
“Because he knew someone was coming for him.”
“Who?”
Victor looked toward the security monitors.
“The people who now want you dead.”
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
His voice was barely recognizable.
“Evelyn.”
“What?”
“I know about my father.”
I went silent.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Mom told me.”
I closed my eyes.
“Daniel, listen to me carefully.”
“Was he alive?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Are you lying?”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“Then who killed him?”
I looked at Victor.
He shook his head.
We didn't know.
Then Daniel whispered:
“Evelyn...”
“What?”
“I found something in Mom's room.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
“What photograph?”
He swallowed.
“It's you.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“You were standing beside my father.”
I looked at Victor.
Neither of us moved.
Daniel continued.
“But the photograph is dated two years before you and I met.”
The call ended.
I stood frozen.
For three years, I had believed my story began when I met Daniel.
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Now I was beginning to wonder whether my life had been connected to the Hawthorne family long before I ever knew their name.
And somewhere in the shadows, someone was making sure I remembered.
