Chapter 3 - The Secret Behind Thomas’s Death
The black folder contained copies of financial records, encrypted messages, and a photograph of Thomas entering a warehouse three days before his death.
Hannah touched the image.
He looked tired.
Afraid.
Alive.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“From Thomas’s private storage account,” Daniel answered.
“How did you access it?”
“He sent me the password the night before the accident.”
Hannah looked at him.
“And you waited eight months to tell me?”
“The files were incomplete.”
“My husband was dead.”
“I needed proof.”
“You needed proof for your company.”
Daniel did not deny it.
Hannah’s disappointment deepened.
Thomas had died carrying secrets powerful men considered business.
She had carried grief alone.
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“I was wrong to keep you outside the truth.”
“Yes.”
“I believed ignorance kept you safe.”
“It kept me powerless.”
That sentence stayed between them.
Daniel nodded once.
“You are right.”
He explained what Thomas had discovered.
Millions of dollars had been moved through false vineyard purchases and consulting contracts.
The signatures led toward Whitlock Holdings, Claire’s family company.
Daniel suspected Claire’s father, Edward Whitlock.
But another name appeared repeatedly.
Ben Carter.
Hannah frowned.
“Ben is a child.”
“His father used accounts opened under the boy’s name.”
Ben’s mother had died two years earlier.
His father served as a financial adviser to both families.
The child living quietly at Carver Mansion had inherited documents without understanding their meaning.
Martin had protected Ben since his father disappeared.
“Where is Ben now?” Hannah asked.
“In the east wing.”
“Does Claire know?”
“Not that we can prove.”
Hannah remembered seeing the boy near the ballroom.
He had watched Claire cut her hair with fear in his eyes.
Perhaps he had seen cruelty before.
Daniel continued.
“Thomas believed someone was using the Whitlock accounts to fund illegal shipments.”
“What shipments?”
“Weapons.”
Hannah’s face lost color.
Daniel’s public companies were legitimate.
His family history was not.
He had spent years trying to separate the Carver empire from criminal operations.
Someone inside his organization wanted the old system restored.
Thomas found the money trail.
Then his brakes failed on a mountain road.
Hannah closed the folder.
“You knew my husband might have been murdered, yet you invited the Whitlocks into this house.”
“To make them believe I trusted them.”
“And your engagement?”
Daniel looked away.
“At first, it was strategic.”
Hannah stared at him.
“You planned to marry Claire for evidence?”
“I planned to remain close enough to discover who controlled the accounts.”
“That is not marriage.”
“No.”
“Did Claire know?”
“No.”
Hannah felt no sympathy for Claire.
Still, the cold calculation disturbed her.
“Do you use everyone?”
Daniel met her eyes.
“I used to believe control protected people.”
“And now?”
He looked toward her shortened hair.
“Now I see what control becomes when nobody challenges it.”
A knock sounded.
Ben stood in the doorway.
He held an old tablet against his chest.
Martin remained behind him.
The boy looked at Hannah.
“Are you and the baby okay?”
“Yes.”
He relaxed slightly.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“I found something.”
The tablet contained a video recorded by Ben’s father.
The image shook as though the man filmed it secretly inside a parked car.
“If anything happens to me, Edward Whitlock and Victor Hale are moving money through the Carver vineyards.”
Martin went pale.
Victor Hale was his son.
Hannah turned toward the steward.
Martin closed his eyes.
“I hoped the name was not his.”
Daniel’s expression became stone.
Victor managed estate security.
He controlled the cameras.
The doors.
The guest list.
The same man who could have erased evidence after Claire humiliated Hannah.
Ben’s father continued.
“Thomas Brooks has the full ledger. They know he copied it.”
The video ended.
Hannah pressed one hand over her mouth.
Thomas had not died randomly.
He had been hunted.
Martin sat down heavily.
“My son did this.”
Daniel called security, then stopped.
Victor controlled security.
He reached for his phone and contacted a private team instead.
Too late.
The lights inside the medical wing went out.
Emergency lighting glowed red along the floor.
Martin moved toward Ben.
Daniel stepped between Hannah and the door.
A voice came through the mansion speaker system.
Victor.
“Daniel, bring me the tablet and the Brooks woman walks out safely.”
Hannah’s maternal fear became cold determination.
Victor did not know she had already copied the video to her phone.
He believed she was only a frightened housekeeper.
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That mistake gave them one chance.
Continue to the next part: Hannah will use her position as an overlooked servant to escape Victor’s surveillance, while Daniel prepares to confront the man connected to Thomas’s death.
