Chapter 4 - EMILY’S SECRET
Ryan had believed Emily died without secrets.
They had been married eleven years.
She knew his favorite coffee.
She knew when he lied about being tired.
She could tell when he was worried before he spoke.
But apparently Emily had secretly hired a forensic accountant to investigate his company.
Ryan could not decide whether to feel betrayed or ashamed that she had needed to.
Claire explained.
“Emily contacted Daniel six months before he died.”
“Why?”
“She suspected someone was stealing from Collins Development.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Daniel said she was protecting you.”
“From my own company?”
“From your brother.”
Ryan went still.
Emily had always distrusted Evan.
Not openly.
But enough.
After Daniel died, the investigation stopped.
Eight months later, Emily told Ryan she wanted Evan removed from the company.
They argued.
Ryan defended his brother.
Emily eventually dropped it.
Ryan remembered her final words from that argument.
One day you’re going to realize loyalty is not the same thing as trust.
At the time, he thought she was being unfair.
Now those words hurt.
Emily died fourteen months later.
A highway accident.
Her SUV crossed a median during heavy rain.
Police blamed hydroplaning.
Ryan had never questioned it.
Until now.
Maya did.
“We need the vehicle records.”
“The car was destroyed.”
“Maybe.”
Ryan looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“The insurance company retained components during litigation.”
That afternoon, investigators located the vehicle’s electronic control module.
The data showed something unexpected.
Emily had pressed the brake pedal repeatedly before the crash.
The vehicle did not slow.
A mechanical inspection report from two years earlier contained one sentence that had been buried.
Rear brake line displayed an irregular cut inconsistent with collision damage.
Ryan stood in Maya’s office reading it.
His hands shook.
“You’re saying someone cut her brakes?”
“I’m saying we need forensic confirmation.”
Ryan sat.
For two years, he had told Ava that her mother’s death had been an accident.
What if it wasn’t?
That evening he returned home.
Ava was asleep beside his mother, Margaret Collins, who had flown in from Denver.
Ryan walked into Emily’s old study.
He had barely entered it since her death.
Her books remained.
Her writing desk.
A framed photograph of Ava as a baby.
He opened drawers.
Nothing.
Then he noticed the desk was slightly separated from the wall.
Behind it sat an envelope taped underneath.
Emily’s handwriting was on the front.
RYAN — IF I DON’T GET THE CHANCE TO EXPLAIN.
Ryan stopped breathing.
He opened it.
Inside was a single sheet.
Ryan,
If you are reading this, something happened before I could tell you everything.
Daniel found proof that Evan is not working alone.
The woman helping him knows more about Collins Development than she should.
Her name is Natalie Kerr.
Ryan’s knees nearly gave out.
Emily knew Natalie.
Before Daniel died.
Before Emily died.
Years before Ryan supposedly met Natalie for the first time at a charity gala.
He kept reading.
Daniel believes Natalie is using Evan, but I’m not convinced.
There is another person involved.
Someone Daniel calls “the architect.”
I don’t know who that is yet.
Ryan turned the page.
Nothing.
That was all.
Then he noticed something on the envelope.
May you like
A handwritten date.
Four days before Emily’s crash.
