Chapter 2 - The Echo of a Lie
The video continued to play.
Evelyn’s chest heaved on the screen.
She looked terrified.
She glanced over her shoulder, as if expecting someone to burst through the ballroom doors.
“Nathaniel, if you are watching this, it means I’m gone.”
Her voice trembled.
“They ruled it an accident. I know they will.”
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
I instinctively pulled Sophia and Eli back, shielding them from the heavy tension in the room.
“It wasn't an accident,” Evelyn said, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper.
“Marcus found out.”
Nathaniel flinched.
Marcus was Nathaniel’s stepbrother and the Chief Financial Officer of Reed Enterprises.
I saw him every week when he came for Sunday dinners.
He always smiled.
He always brought Eli expensive toys.
“He’s been stealing from the company, Nathaniel,” Evelyn continued.
“Millions. Siphoned through offshore shell accounts.”
She held up a small black key.
“I found the ledgers. I hid them where he would never look.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“He threatened Eli. He said if I spoke, our baby wouldn't make it to his first birthday.”
Evelyn pressed her hands to her face.
“I’m leaving this morning to go to the police. But I think he tampered with my car.”
She looked straight into the camera, her eyes piercing through time.
“If I don't make it, the ledgers are in the sounding board of my old piano.”
The screen went black.
Static hissed through the silent ballroom.
Nathaniel collapsed to his knees.
A guttural, agonizing sound tore from his throat.
It was the sound of a man realizing his wife was murdered by his own flesh and blood.
I covered Sophia’s ears.
Eli just stared, not understanding why his daddy was crying.
I looked at the grand piano sitting just ten feet away from us.
The truth had been sitting in this room for two entire years.
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And if my three-year-old hadn't sneaked in here to dance...
It would have stayed buried forever.
