Chapter 4 - The Man Jason Called Father
Rachel stepped in front of Olivia.
Jason aimed the gun at her chest.
“Move.”
“No.”
Jason fired into the dirt beside Rachel’s foot.
The sound echoed through the ruined motel.
Olivia clutched the black bag.
Sharon walked toward the mailboxes with the calm confidence of someone entering her own home.
“Give me the drive,” she said.
“You killed my father.”
Sharon sighed.
“Daniel’s death was an accident.”
“You were following him.”
“We were trying to recover what he stole.”
“What did he steal?”
“Our protection.”
Sharon looked toward the burned remains of the motel.
“Years ago, your father, Walter, and I created a property investment company. We bought failing motels and empty buildings through tax auctions. At first, everything was legal.”
“And then?”
“Daniel became frightened when the profits grew.”
Rachel shook her head.
“He became frightened when you began forging ownership records.”
Sharon smiled coldly.
“Your father always preferred morality when someone else paid the bills.”
Olivia held up the photograph.
“Walter is not Jason’s father.”
Jason’s jaw tightened.
Sharon looked at him.
“Walter raised him. That makes him his father.”
“Who is his biological father?”
Sharon said nothing.
Rachel stared at the photograph.
Then her expression changed.
“Daniel.”
Olivia looked at her.
“No.”
Jason’s face twisted with anger.
“Do not say his name.”
Rachel pointed toward the photograph.
“Daniel and Sharon were not only business partners.”
Olivia felt the ground disappear beneath her.
Jason stepped closer.
“Your father had an affair with my mother. He promised to leave your mother and build a life with us.”
“That is a lie.”
“He abandoned us when you were born.”
Olivia stared at Sharon.
Sharon did not deny it.
Jason laughed bitterly.
“You spent five years calling me your husband when I may have been your brother.”
The words struck with such force that Olivia could not breathe.
Rachel quickly said, “There is no proof Daniel was Jason’s father.”
“That proof is on the drive,” Sharon replied.
Olivia looked down at the second flash drive.
Jason extended his hand.
“Give it to me.”
“Why did you marry me if you believed that?”
“I did not know when we met.”
“When did you find out?”
“The night before our wedding.”
Olivia’s stomach turned.
“You married me anyway.”
“I needed access to Daniel’s estate.”
Rachel moved closer to Olivia.
“He is trying to shock you into giving up the evidence.”
Jason lifted the gun toward Rachel.
Sharon glanced at the road.
Headlights were approaching.
“Enough. Take the bag.”
Jason lunged.
Olivia threw the brass key into the empty pool.
His eyes followed it.
Rachel struck his wrist.
The gun fired.
Sharon screamed.
Olivia ran through the ruins carrying the bag.
Behind her, another gunshot echoed.
When she reached the fence, she saw Walter step from the approaching car.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Get in,” he said.
Olivia looked past him.
A man sat behind the wheel.
The face was older and scarred, but she recognized it from childhood photographs.
Her father’s younger brother, David Hart.
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The uncle who had supposedly died twelve years earlier.
Continue to the next part: David Hart reveals why Walter helped fake his death and why Jason was ordered to marry Olivia.
