Chapter 12
PART 12: The Journal's First Secret
Noah carefully turned the first page.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Michael's.
Neat.
Precise.
Steady.
The journal began with a date.
October 14, 1989.
Lily frowned.
"That's years before we were born."
Michael had written only one sentence.
If anything happens to me, it wasn't an accident.
The room fell silent.
Samuel slowly sat down.
"I always knew Michael was investigating something..."
"I never knew it started this early."
Noah continued reading.
Every page described names.
Companies.
Bank accounts.
Judges.
Police officers.
Powerful businessmen.
People who had quietly disappeared from public life years ago.
But one name appeared more often than any other.
Victor Beaumont.
Lily's heart skipped a beat.
"Beaumont..."
"That's our last name."
Samuel looked stunned.
"No."
"It can't be."
Michael's next entry answered the question.
Victor Beaumont is my older brother.
Noah stopped reading.
Neither of them spoke.
For years they believed their father had been an ordinary journalist.
Now they discovered he came from one of the wealthiest families in the country.
The journal explained everything.
Michael had walked away from the Beaumont fortune at twenty-four.
Not because he wanted freedom.
Because he discovered his own family had built its empire through corruption.
He chose truth.
His brother chose power.
And from that day forward...
They became enemies.
Lily whispered,
"So everything that happened to us..."
"...started long before we were born."
Samuel nodded slowly.
"It was never about money."
"It was about silence."
Michael refused to stay silent.
The pages became darker.
More desperate.
One final entry had been written only three days before Michael disappeared.
If Victor ever finds this journal...
Lily and Noah will never be safe.
Noah looked toward his sister.
"But Victor died twenty years ago."
Samuel didn't answer.
Instead...
He quietly reached into the back cover.
"There are more pages."
Hidden inside the leather binding was a folded document.
It wasn't written by Michael.
It was recent.
Only six months old.
Typed.
Official.
Across the top were the words:
CONFIDENTIAL – BEAUMONT FAMILY OFFICE
Lily unfolded it.
Her hands began to shake.
The first line read:
Chairman's Health Update
She frowned.
"Chairman?"
Samuel's face slowly turned pale.
"Victor wasn't the chairman."
"He retired decades ago."
Noah kept reading.
The final sentence froze all three of them.
The Chairman will personally return to Le Petit Palais on Monday to recover the journal before the children discover the truth.
Lily looked at the date.
Monday.
She checked today's calendar.
Her heartbeat stopped.
Today...
Was Monday.
At that exact moment...
The bell above the bakery door rang.
Someone had just walked in.
A deep, calm voice echoed through the empty shop.
"Good morning."
"I believe..."
"...you're holding something that belongs to my family."
Lily slowly looked toward the entrance.
Standing there was a distinguished man in his early seventies.
Silver hair.
Tailored black suit.
Walking cane.
Behind him stood four bodyguards.
The old man smiled politely.
Then he introduced himself.
"My name is Alexander Beaumont."
"I'm Victor's son.""And I've been searching for you both..."
May you like
"...my entire life."
