Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT THE CAR WOULDN'T START
After Christopher said that, everything changed.
The police were informed.
Melissa contacted an investigator.
Rachel insisted I stay with her.
Nobody trusted the house.
Nobody trusted Christopher.
Nobody trusted Daniel.
And absolutely nobody knew where Veronica was.
Then Daniel appeared.
He came to Rachel's house at six in the morning.
He looked terrible.
He had blood on his sleeve.
Rachel called the police.
Daniel immediately raised his hands.
“I'm not here to hurt anyone.”
“Then why are you here?” I asked.
He looked at me.
“To tell you the truth.”
“You're late.”
“I know.”
“Why did you forge my signature?”
He looked down.
“Because I was trying to save my brother.”
“From what?”
“Veronica.”
I stared at him.
“She was blackmailing him.”
“With what?”
“Evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Daniel took a folder from his jacket.
Inside were photographs.
Christopher with Veronica.
Financial records.
Messages.
Emails.
Then one photograph made my stomach turn.
It showed Christopher standing beside my car.
Three weeks before Veronica moved in.
He was holding a small device.
“What is that?”
Daniel answered.
“A tracking device.”
I stared at Christopher's photograph.
“Why?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because Veronica wanted to know where you went.”
“Why?”
“So they could stage an accident.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
I couldn't speak.
“What kind of accident?”
“Car accident.”
I looked at Christopher.
He wasn't there.
Daniel continued.
“Christopher refused.”
“Then why did he keep working with them?”
“Because Veronica threatened him.”
“With what?”
“Debt.”
Daniel's voice cracked.
“Your husband owed more than you knew.”
“How much?”
“Over a million.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why?”
“Bad investments.”
“And Veronica?”
“She knew about them.”
“Why?”
“Because she helped arrange some of them.”
I stared at the folder.
“So the fake cancer…”
“Was her idea.”
“The affair?”
“Part of it.”
“The house?”
“Collateral.”
“And the insurance?”
Daniel nodded.
“Final plan.”
I looked at him.
“What happened to the accident?”
He hesitated.
“Christopher sabotaged the plan.”
“How?”
“He removed the device from your car.”
I stared.
“He saved me?”
Daniel nodded.
“But then Veronica found out.”
“What did she do?”
“She threatened to expose everything.”
I sat down.
My hands were shaking.
Then Daniel said:
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“Christopher never told you because he was ashamed.”
“Tell me.”
“He was going to leave Veronica.”
I looked up.
“When?”
“Before she moved in.”
“Why didn't he?”
“She threatened to destroy him.”
“By exposing the debts?”
“More than that.”
Daniel looked at me.
“She had proof that he had committed fraud.”
I stared.
“Did he?”
Daniel nodded.
“Years ago.”
The room went silent.
I realized something.
Christopher had not been innocent.
He had made terrible choices.
He had lied.
He had cheated.
He had participated.
But he had also been trapped inside consequences he had created himself.
That didn't excuse him.
It explained him.
Then the police called.
They had found Veronica's car.
Abandoned near the harbor.
Inside was a note.
Not to Christopher.
To me.
I opened it.
Hannah,
You think this is about money.
It isn't.
It's about what people will do when they believe they deserve what belongs to someone else.
You should have asked Christopher about the night your father died.
I stared at the page.
“My father?”
Rachel looked at me.
“What does she mean?”
I shook my head.
“My father died eight years ago.”
Melissa took the note.
“Do you know anything unusual about his death?”
“No.”
I suddenly remembered.
A car accident.
Late at night.
Rain.
A dangerous intersection.
My father had been driving home from work.
The police called it an accident.
But there had been one strange detail.
His car had stopped working shortly before the crash.
At the time, nobody questioned it.
Now I wondered.
I called Christopher.
He answered immediately.
“Hannah?”
“What happened to my father?”
Silence.
“What?”
“Your father.”
“Hannah, what are you talking about?”
“Veronica said I should ask you.”
He stopped breathing for a second.
Then he said:
“Where are you?”
“Rachel's.”
“Stay there.”
“Christopher.”
“Don't go anywhere.”
His voice was terrified.
“Why?”
“Because Veronica knows about your father's death.”
I felt cold.
“What does she know?”
“I don't know.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
He whispered:
“Your father wasn't supposed to die.”
I couldn't breathe.
“What?”
“The accident was supposed to scare him.”
“Who?”
Christopher didn't answer.
“Who?”
He finally said:
“Daniel.”
I stared at the phone.
“My brother was involved.”
I closed my eyes.
“And Veronica knows.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she helped arrange it.”
My stomach turned.
The affair.
The house.
The insurance.
The fake cancer.
All of it suddenly seemed connected to something much older.
May you like
Something my family had never known.
And if Veronica was telling the truth, my father's death might not have been an accident.
