For several seconds, nobody moved.
Emily stood in the garden with her hand still trembling from the slap.
Daniel stared at her.
Jack stared at Emily's mother.
And Margaret Carter looked as if she had just seen a ghost.
"Mom," Emily said slowly, "what does he mean by 'come back'?"
Margaret stepped outside.
Her eyes never left Jack.
"How long have you been here?"
"Long enough."
"You need to leave."
Emily turned toward her mother.
"No."
Margaret stopped.
Emily held up the photograph.
"You're not sending anyone anywhere until someone tells me the truth."
"Emily, this isn't the time."
"It's my wedding day."
Her voice cracked.
"Apparently everyone knew something about my wedding except me."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Emily, I can explain."
"No."
She looked at him.
"You had three years."
Daniel swallowed.
"I wanted to protect you."
"From what?"
He had no answer.
Jack finally spoke.
"From the truth."
Margaret's face hardened.
"Jack, you have no right."
"I have every right."
"After all these years?"
"Especially after all these years."
Emily looked at Jack.
"Who are you?"
Jack hesitated.
Then he said,
"I was your father's lawyer."
Emily blinked.
"My father had a lawyer?"
"He had a business partner, too."
She looked at the photograph.
"Your father owned Rosewood Industries," Jack continued. "It was a small manufacturing company back then. Your father built it from nothing."
"And your family?"
Jack looked at Daniel.
"Daniel's father, Richard Vale, invested in the company."
Daniel finally spoke.
"My father didn't destroy anything."
Jack's expression remained calm.
"Then tell her what happened."
Daniel looked at Emily.
"My father and David were partners."
"That's what you've told me before."
"Because it's true."
Jack shook his head.
"They were partners until the night David discovered the missing accounts."
Emily frowned.
"What missing accounts?"
"Money."
Margaret suddenly stepped between them.
"Stop."
Emily stared at her.
"Mom?"
Margaret's voice was quiet.
"Your father believed someone was stealing from Rosewood."
"Who?"
"He never told me."
Jack answered.
"Richard."
Daniel's face tightened.
"My father was never charged."
"Because David disappeared before he could testify."
Emily felt the ground shift beneath her.
"You said Dad disappeared because he was depressed."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"I was trying to protect you."
"From what?"
"From the people who were looking for him."
Emily's breathing became shallow.
"People were looking for Dad?"
Margaret didn't answer.
Jack did.
"After David disappeared, someone came to your mother's house."
Margaret looked at him sharply.
"Don't."
"Who?"
Emily's voice was barely audible.
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"Richard Vale."
Daniel looked stunned.
"My father came here?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Margaret stared at Daniel.
"He told me David had stolen company money and run away."
Emily shook her head.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It didn't then either."
Jack reached into his jacket.
"Your father left evidence."
He placed a small envelope on the table.
Emily opened it.
Inside were bank statements.
Several large transfers had been made from Rosewood's account.
The money had gone to a company called Vantage Holdings.
Emily looked at Jack.
"What's Vantage?"
"A shell company."
"Owned by who?"
Jack pointed to the signature.
"Richard Vale."
Daniel stepped backward.
"No."
Jack looked at him.
"Your father used Vantage to move money out of Rosewood."
Daniel stared at the papers.
"I never knew."
Emily looked at him.
"How could you not know?"
"Because I was twelve."
That stopped her.
Daniel looked down.
"My father never talked about business with me. After David disappeared, he told me your family had betrayed him."
Emily's anger softened for half a second.
Then she remembered the warning.
"Why did my father have a photograph of your father?"
Jack answered.
"Because David discovered something else."
"What?"
"Richard wasn't working alone."
The garden went silent.
Emily looked at her mother.
Margaret looked away.
"Mom?"
Margaret's lips trembled.
"There was another person."
"Who?"
Margaret didn't answer.
Emily looked at Daniel.
He shook his head.
"I don't know."
Jack studied Margaret.
"You know."
Margaret finally whispered,
"I suspected."
"Who?"
Margaret looked toward the mansion.
"Someone inside this family."
Emily's stomach tightened.
"Who?"
Before Margaret could answer, a car engine started near the driveway.
Everyone turned.
A black SUV was leaving the property.
Jack's expression changed.
"That's not a wedding guest."
He ran toward the driveway.
Daniel followed.
Emily stayed with her mother.
"Mom, who was the second person?"
Margaret looked at her daughter.
"I was afraid if you knew, they'd come after you too."
"Who?"
Margaret whispered,
"Your uncle."
Emily froze.
"My uncle?"
"You don't have an uncle."
"I had one."
Margaret's face crumpled.
"Your father's older brother, Thomas."
Emily stared at her.
"Why have I never heard his name?"
"Because your father erased him from our lives."
"Why?"
Margaret looked toward the road.
"Because Thomas was the one who warned your father that Richard was stealing from the company."
Emily frowned.
"Then why would Dad erase him?"
Margaret whispered,
"Because Thomas disappeared too."
Emily felt a chill.
"After Dad?"
Margaret nodded.
"Three weeks later."
Jack returned from the driveway.
"He got away."
Emily looked at him.
"Who?"
Jack didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Margaret.
"Tell her about the letter."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"What letter?"
Jack's voice hardened.
"The one David sent you the night before he disappeared."
Margaret shook her head.
"I burned it."
Jack slowly reached into his coat.
"Not all of it."
He unfolded a damaged piece of paper.
Emily took it.
Most of the words were gone.
But one line remained:
MARGARET, IF I DON'T COME HOME, TRUST THOMAS.
Emily looked at her mother.
"Why did Dad tell you to trust Thomas?"
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"Because Thomas knew the truth."
Emily looked at Jack.
"Where is he?"
Jack didn't answer.
He simply turned the photograph around.
On the back, beneath the warning, there was another handwritten sentence that Emily hadn't noticed.
THOMAS DIDN'T DISAPPEAR.
Emily's heart stopped.
"Then where is he?"
Jack looked toward the road.
"He's been watching this family for twenty-six years."