Chapter 4 - The Cover-Up
The terrifying text message completely shattered the fragile peace we had just fought so hard to secure.
I showed Mariana the screen, and the color instantly drained from her beautiful face.
David was the only other person alive who possessed the full, unredacted proof of my mother's massive charity fraud.
I realized with absolute certainty that his assault was not a random act of violence in the corporate parking lot.
Evelyn and Chloe had orchestrated the attack to silence him before the audit could be brought to the authorities.
I grabbed Mariana's hand, and we sprinted out of the dining room toward the massive front doors of the estate.
We ignored the shocked stares of my mother's wealthy friends, who were still whispering furiously at the table.
I drove my car far above the speed limit, weaving recklessly through the morning traffic toward the downtown corporate hospital.
Mariana frantically called David's wife on the way, confirming that he was alive but currently in a medically induced coma.
When we finally burst through the heavy glass doors of the intensive care unit, two police officers were already waiting.
The lead detective approached me with a grim expression, holding a small plastic evidence bag.
He explained that David had been struck violently from behind with a heavy blunt object in the company parking garage.
The detective held up the plastic bag, showing me a shattered piece of dark, expensive custom taillight glass.
He stated that the attacker had panicked and backed their vehicle directly into a concrete pillar while fleeing the scene.
I recognized the specific tint and shape of the shattered taillight glass immediately.
It belonged perfectly to the brand new, custom-ordered luxury SUV I had bought for Chloe last Christmas.
My own sister had violently assaulted my chief financial officer in a desperate attempt to cover up the family fraud.
I told the detective exactly who owned the vehicle and gave him the address of my estate.
The detective immediately radioed for a heavily armed tactical unit to secure the property before Chloe could destroy the car.
We rushed back to the estate, trailing closely behind the wailing sirens of three marked police cruisers.
When we pulled into the circular driveway, the heavy iron gates were wide open and the front doors were completely unlocked.
My mother's wealthy friends were long gone, and the house was eerily, terrifyingly silent.
I sprinted up the grand staircase and kicked the door to Chloe's bedroom completely open.
The room was entirely empty, the closets stripped bare of every single designer dress and expensive handbag.
Evelyn's room was in the exact same chaotic state of abandonment, with empty jewelry boxes scattered across the floor.
They had packed everything they could carry and fled the estate the second we left for the hospital.
The police officers quickly spread out to search the massive grounds, checking the garages and the guest houses.
I walked back down to the main floor, my heart pounding violently against my ribs in absolute fury.
Mariana was standing frozen in the center of the living room, staring intensely at the massive stone fireplace.
I walked over to her and saw a thick, smoldering pile of ashes resting inside the dark hearth.
Evelyn had frantically burned stacks of financial documents before fleeing to destroy the paper trail.
I knelt down and carefully sifted through the warm gray ashes, hoping to find any surviving scrap of evidence.
At the very bottom of the pile, a single, partially burned piece of heavy parchment paper remained intact.
I carefully pulled it out, blowing the soot away to read the bold, formal text printed across the top.
May you like
It was an incredibly detailed, fully executed life insurance policy taken out on Mariana's life just two weeks ago.
The designated, sole beneficiary printed clearly at the bottom of the page was my mother, Evelyn.
