Chapter 9 - THE EVIDENCE WE UNCOVERED
Over the next week, Elena stayed with us. She was quiet, careful, watching everything with wide, wary eyes. She and Lily became fast friends—Lily seemed to sense that Elena was new, that she too had lost something, and immediately set about making her feel welcome.
“Elena is my aunt,” Lily announced one evening at dinner. “And she is staying forever.”
Elena looked at me, her eyes shining. “If that is all right with your father.”
I smiled. “That is more than all right with me.”
Together, Elena and I went through the contents of the envelope. What we found turned my blood cold.
Arthur had been planning this for decades.
The documents showed bank accounts in three different countries. Payments to lawyers, judges, and business associates. Copies of forged documents—some of them even predating Grace’s illness. He had been preparing to seize control long before Grace had known she was sick.
And most disturbing of all: a list of names. People who had stood in his way. People who had “accidents.” People who had died.
“Grace’s surgery,” Elena said quietly, pointing to a note in the margin. “He wrote: ‘Final step in place.’”
I stared at the words. “You think…?”
“He was there,” Elena said. “The night before her surgery. He was at the hospital. He told me… he was saying goodbye to his dear cousin. But I heard him on the phone later. He said: ‘The procedure will not go as planned.’”
My hands shook. “Grace didn’t die from complications.”
Elena looked at me, her expression grave.
“I believe she was murdered, Adrian. And I believe these papers prove it.”
We took everything to the police. The records. The payments. The names. The note. They launched a full investigation. Grace’s medical records were pulled. Her body was exhumed. And three weeks later… the results came back.
Traces of a rare, fast-acting poison had been found in her system. Administered shortly before her surgery.
Grace had been murdered.
Arthur had killed her.
I stood in the hallway outside the police station, staring at the report in my hands, feeling as though my heart had been ripped from my chest. He had killed her. My own father had murdered the woman I loved more than life itself.
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Elena found me there, staring at nothing, tears streaming down my face. She put her arms around me and held me while I wept.
“We will find him,” she whispered. “I promise you, Adrian. We will make him pay.”
