The Bride Who Insulted My Mother at Our Wedding

She looked at him.

“Mr. Miller, I am sorry.””

“You’re sorry because your father might lose the property.””

“No. I’m sorry because I helped him hurt people who never did anything to me.””

Walter studied her for a moment.

Then he turned away.

I looked at Vanessa.

“Tell me everything you know about the agreement.””

She nodded.

“My father believes the land is worth more than forty million dollars. His company has already borrowed money against the expected development profits. If the transfer fails, several investors could sue him.””

“That doesn’t explain the forged signature.””

“I don’t know who forged it.””

“But you knew about the trust.””

She hesitated.

“My father found an old letter in Walter’s office. It mentioned a beneficiary, but the name had been removed from the copy.

He suspected the beneficiary was connected to your family.””

“Why did you tell him about the barn?””

“Because he promised me he would stop targeting your mother if I helped him find the documents.””

I let out a bitter laugh.

“And you believed that?””

She looked at me.

“Yes.””

“After what you saw him do to her?””

Vanessa lowered her head.

“I didn’t want to believe he was capable of something worse.””

I pulled the wedding ring from my finger and held it in my palm.

Her face changed.

“Daniel, don’t.””

“I don’t know who I married.””

“You married me.””

“I married the woman I thought you were.””

She reached for my hand, but I stepped away.

“Tell me one thing, Vanessa. Did you know my father died three days after he confronted Richard?””

Her eyes widened.

“No.””

“Did your father ever mention him?””

She swallowed.

“Only once. He said your father had been a good mechanic, but he got involved in things he didn’t understand.””

Walter made a quiet, angry sound.

Vanessa looked at him.

“What?””

Walter took a step closer.

“Your father knew exactly what he was doing. He found proof that Richard was falsifying property records. He was going to take that proof to the authorities.””

Vanessa shook her head.

“No.””

“Your father knew that if those records became public, his entire scheme would collapse.””

“No,” she repeated, louder this time.

“My father wouldn’t do that.””

Walter’s voice softened.

“Then you should ask him why he paid your family’s lawyer to obtain a copy of the accident report before the police had even completed their investigation.

””

Vanessa went completely still.

I looked at Walter.

“How do you know that?””

“Because I saw the payment record in your father’s accounts.””

Vanessa stepped backward.

“That’s impossible.””

“Ask him,” Walter said.

She stared at us, her face pale.

Then she hurried to her car.

Before she got inside, she turned toward me.

“Daniel, I need to talk to my father.””

“Go ahead.””

“If what Walter says is true—”

“Then you should have asked questions before you humiliated my mother.””

She had no answer.

She drove away.

Walter watched the SUV disappear down the road.

Then he turned to me.

“There’s something else you need to know.””

I put the ring in my pocket.

“What now?””

“Your father didn’t leave the original agreement in the barn. He left a copy there to lead Richard away from the real document.

””

I stared at him.

“Where’s the original?””

Walter reached into his coat and removed a small folded note.

“Your mother knows.””

He handed it to me.

The handwriting was my father’s.

*If the farm becomes unsafe, take the original to Eleanor. She will know where to hide it.*

I read the note twice.

“Why didn’t Mom tell me?””

“Because she was afraid Richard would discover what she had.””

I looked toward the road.

“Then we need to find her.””

Walter nodded.

“And we need to find her before Richard does.””

My phone vibrated.

A text from Mom.

*Daniel, don’t come home yet. Someone has been inside my house. They left something on the kitchen table.*

A second message followed.

It was a photograph.

On the table sat an old family photograph of my father, my mother, and me as a little boy.

Someone had drawn a red circle around my father’s face.

Beneath the picture was a handwritten note.

*Return the original agreement by tonight, or your son will learn what really happened to his father.*

I stared at the screen.

Then another message appeared.

This one came from an unknown number.

*Ask Eleanor why she was the last person to see your father alive.*

My hands went cold.

Walter looked at my face.

“What is it?””

I showed him the message.

He read it silently.

When he looked up, the fear in his eyes was unmistakable.

“Daniel,” he said, “there’s one part of your father’s death that your mother has never told you.””

I swallowed.

“What part?””