CHAPTER 3: THE SECRET HER MOTHER LEFT BEHIND
The wedding celebration was forgotten.
The father led the boy and his daughter into a private room.
Inside, the boy handed him an old envelope.
The paper was yellow with age.
Across the front were six words.
For My Husband And Daughter.
The father's hands shook.
It was his wife's handwriting.
He opened it carefully.
Inside was a letter.
As he read, his face slowly turned pale.
The room became silent.
The letter revealed a terrifying truth.
His wife had not died by accident.
She had discovered that someone was stealing money from the family's charity foundation.
Millions of dollars intended for sick children had vanished.
The person responsible was someone close.
Someone trusted.
Someone who attended every family gathering.
The night she died, she had arranged to expose the thief.
But she never made it home.
The father stopped reading.
His heart pounded.
There was only one name written in the final paragraph.
His own younger brother.
The room spun around him.
"No..."
The boy quietly nodded.
"My grandmother witnessed their argument that night."
The father could barely breathe.
His brother had helped organize this very wedding.
His brother was downstairs right now.
Smiling.
Laughing.
Pretending everything was normal.
At that exact moment, the ballroom doors suddenly opened.
The younger brother stepped inside.
Then he saw the letter.
And all the color vanished from his face.
Everyone immediately knew.
May you like
He recognized it.
Because he had spent a year hoping nobody would ever find it.
