Chapter 7: The Memory She Buried
The next morning, Emily sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee untouched in front of her.
She hadn’t slept.
Neither had I.
The message from Thomas was still on my phone.
Ask Emily what happened before the crash.
Those words haunted me.
Because Emily knew something.
Something she hadn’t told me.
“Tell me.””
She looked at me.
“I’m trying.””
“No.””
My voice softened.
“I need the truth.””
She closed her eyes.
“I was going to leave you.””
The words hit harder than I expected.
“What?””
“Before the crash.””
I sat down.
“Why?””
She looked devastated.
“Because I thought you were hiding something from me.””
My eyebrows tightened.
“I was?””
“I found a bank statement.””
“What bank statement?””
“Payments to Thomas Reed.””
I froze.
“What?””
She nodded.
“I thought you were working with him.””
The room felt smaller.
“I never paid Thomas.””
“I know that now.””
“How?””
“Because I found out later that the account had been manipulated.””
She looked at her hands.
“Someone wanted me to believe you were betraying me.””
Rebecca.
Thomas.
They weren’t just trying to destroy Emily.
They were trying to destroy us.
“I was going to confront you that night.””
“The night of the crash?””
“Yes.””
She looked at me.
“But I never got there.””
The pieces finally connected.
Rebecca didn’t just want Emily gone.
She wanted Emily isolated.
She wanted her marriage broken before she disappeared.
“She planned everything,” I whispered.
Emily nodded.
“But why?””
I didn’t have an answer.
Then my phone rang.
Detective Harris.
“Daniel, we found Thomas.””
My body tensed.
“Where?””
“He turned himself in.””
That surprised me.
“Why?””
A pause.
“He wants to talk.””
An hour later, we sat across from Thomas Reed in an interrogation room.
He looked older.
Tired.
Not like the powerful man I remembered.
Like someone who had spent years running from himself.
Emily stared at him.
“You watched me.””
Thomas looked down.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
His jaw tightened.
“Because Rebecca wasn’t the person controlling everything.””
I leaned forward.
“Then who was?””
Thomas looked at me.
“Her father.””
Silence.
Rebecca’s father had died three years earlier.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
“He’s dead,” I said.
Thomas shook his head.
“No.””
Emily’s face went pale.
“He staged it.””
Thomas nodded.
“Rebecca’s father built everything around control. Money. Information. People.””
“Why?””
“Because he believed people were assets.””
I felt sick.
“And Rebecca?””
Thomas looked away.
“She wanted his approval.””
Emily whispered:
“She did all this for him?””
“Yes.””
Thomas continued.
“She didn’t want your life, Daniel.””
I looked at him.
“What?””
“She wanted to prove she could take it.””
The room went quiet.
Then Thomas reached into his pocket.
The detective immediately moved.
But Thomas only pulled out a small flash drive.
“I kept evidence.””
Emily stared.
“What evidence?””
“The night of the crash.””
My heart stopped.
Thomas pushed it across the table.
“There is a recording.””
Emily looked confused.
“Recording of what?””
Thomas swallowed.
“Of Rebecca.””
I felt the air leave my lungs.
“What did she say?””
May you like
Thomas looked at Emily.
“She admitted everything.””
