Chapter 5 - Trust No One
I walked for hours through the freezing streets until I reached the south side of Chicago.
My feet were blistered and my hands were completely numb from the biting cold.
I finally found the address my grandfather had written in one of his old ledgers.
It was a rundown Victorian house with peeling paint and overgrown weeds in the front yard.
I marched up the creaky wooden steps and pounded heavily on the front door.
A few moments later, the door creaked open, and a stern elderly woman holding a shotgun stared at me.
I quickly introduced myself as Robert Hale’s granddaughter and begged her for sanctuary.
Aunt Martha lowered her weapon and pulled me inside without asking any further questions.
She locked the deadbolts and handed me a warm blanket to wrap around my shivering shoulders.
She told me that she had been expecting my arrival ever since she heard about my grandfather’s death.
Martha led me into her dusty living room and poured me a stiff glass of whiskey.
I told her everything about the trust fund, the Russian syndicate, and the bloody briefcase.
Martha did not look surprised by any of the horrifying details.
She said my father had always been a greedy parasite who would destroy anyone to save himself.
She walked over to a massive oil painting on the wall and pulled it aside to reveal a hidden wall safe.
She explained that my grandfather had visited her a week before he died and left something inside for me.
Martha punched a long code into the keypad, and the heavy steel door clicked open.
I stepped forward with eager anticipation, hoping to find stacks of emergency cash or fake passports.
I looked inside the dark metal cavity and gasped in complete disbelief.
The safe was entirely empty except for a single, horrifying object resting on the bottom shelf.
It was a diamond bracelet that belonged to my grandmother.
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It was the exact same bracelet my brother’s girlfriend, Paige, had been wearing at my birthday party.
And the sparkling diamonds were completely coated in dried, dark blood.
