Chapter 4 - The Family That Died TwiceMarcus sat beside his mother.
For the first time since I'd known him, he looked lost.
“My grandfather died before I was born.”
Eleanor nodded.
“That's what we told everyone.”
“Why?”
“Because your father needed the world to believe the Cole family was finished.”
Marcus stared at the photograph.
Three generations.
All supposedly dead.
All connected to the foundation.
I asked:
“Why fake everything?”
Eleanor looked at me.
“Because your grandfather built the first network.”
“What network?”
“The one your father inherited.”
Marcus understood.
“The foundation.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“The foundation was created to hide it.”
My stomach tightened.
“Hide what?”
“Money.”
Marcus looked toward the garden.
“Criminal money?”
Eleanor nodded.
“But your father wanted out.”
“So someone tried to kill him.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“His own family.”
Silence.
Then Marcus looked at me.
“And Vanessa?”
“She found your father.”
“How?”
“Through the foundation.”
Eleanor explained.
Vanessa had discovered irregular transfers.
Instead of reporting them, she traced them.
She found Richard.
Then she joined him.
They had been moving money through charitable programs.
The eight million dollars was only the amount Marcus had noticed.
The real amount was much larger.
Hundreds of millions.
Marcus stood.
“Why did she take my mother's ledger?”
“Because it proves everything.”
“Where is it?”
Eleanor looked at Lily.
“Your daughter knows.”
I stared.
“What?”
Lily hugged Mr. Bun.
Eleanor smiled weakly.
“She found it yesterday.”
Marcus crouched.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“Where is the ledger?”
She pointed toward the greenhouse.
“Under the floor.”
Marcus searched.
He found a loose wooden panel.
Underneath was a metal box.
Inside lay a black leather ledger.
He opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Accounts.
Payments.
Then he saw something.
A photograph.
Lily picked it up.
“That’s him.”
Marcus looked.
It was Richard Cole.
But this photograph had been taken three months ago.
Marcus stared.
His father wasn't the only dead man alive.
May you like
His uncle was alive too.
And both were inside the estate.
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