Chapter 13 - THE SECRET FROM THE PAST
For the next two nights, we remained hidden in the woods. Margaret had brought a powerful listening device — one she had kept prepared for exactly this kind of situation.
On the third night, their voices carried clearly through the open study window.
Edward spoke first. He sounded triumphant.
“It’s all falling into place perfectly. The board accepted everything. No questions. No doubts. By next week, everything is mine.”
Then Calloway’s voice — calm, precise, cold.
“Not yours. Ours. We have an agreement, Edward. You hold the title. I hold the power. Arthur holds the security. Three equal shares.”
Arthur grunted. “And what if they come back? What if she isn’t dead?”
Edward laughed. “She was in a ravine. In that rain. No one survives that. We are free.”
Margaret leaned close to the device. Her breath was steady. Her hand did not tremble.
Then Calloway said something that made every drop of blood in my body run cold.
“It is exactly what your father planned, Margaret. All those years ago.”
Margaret stiffened. “My father?”
Edward shifted. “Careful. We agreed never to speak of him.”
“Why not?” Calloway said. “It was his idea. He hated Margaret. He said she was too strong. Too proud. Too much like her mother. He wanted her broken. He wanted her fortune stripped away. He paid us to wait. To infiltrate. To destroy her from the inside out.”
Arthur’s voice dropped lower.
“Your father hated her because she was not his,” Arthur said. “That was the secret he took to his grave. Margaret was never his daughter. She was the child his wife bore with another man. And he spent his whole life… plotting revenge.”
Silence stretched. Long. Heavy. Unbearable.
Margaret stood perfectly still. I reached for her hand, but she did not move.
“Margaret is not his daughter?” Edward whispered. “Then who is—”
“Her real father was the man your father ruined,” Calloway said. “The man who lost everything. The man who killed himself in disgrace. Julian’s father.”
I gasped softly.
Julian’s father.
Margaret and Julian… half-brother and sister.
Calloway continued, his voice smooth and terrible.
“That is why Julian was so eager. That is why he hated Margaret. He knew the truth. He knew Margaret had inherited everything that should have been his. And he thought — if he destroyed her — he would reclaim what was stolen from his family.”
Edward swore. “And you? You knew all along?”
“I was the family lawyer,” Calloway said. “I drew up the documents. I buried the records. And I waited. For decades. Until the time was right.”
Arthur spoke again.
“So Julian was the first piece. Rachel was the second. Margaret was the third. David the fourth. Sophie the fifth. And then… Edward, you, Calloway, myself… we would divide the rest between us. Until only one remained.”
Calloway laughed softly.
“Did you truly believe we would share?”
Edward’s voice rose. “What are you saying?”
“I am saying,” Calloway said, “that Julian was meant to die in prison. Rachel was meant to hang herself. Margaret and her family were meant to vanish in that ravine. And then… one by one… Arthur would kill you, Edward. And then I would kill Arthur. Until only I stand here… with everything.”
Arthur stood up. “You planned to kill me too?”
“Of course,” Calloway said. “Greed is a terrible thing to share.”
Silence exploded into shouting. Chairs scraped. Glass shattered. Men yelled.
May you like
Margaret touched my arm. Her voice was barely a whisper, but it cut through the noise.
“They are turning on each other,” she said. “The trap is closing. But we have to be ready. Because Calloway is the one who knows everything. And he is the one who intends to walk away alive.”
