Chapter 8: The Voice From The Past
The recording was only seven minutes long.
But it changed everything.
My mother’s voice filled the living room.
A voice I had spent years trying to remember.
A voice I thought I would never hear again.
“Emily, sweetheart…”
I closed my eyes.
For a moment, I wasn’t sixteen anymore.
I was five years old.
Sitting on my mother’s lap.
Listening to her read bedtime stories.
Then reality returned.
And I remembered.
She was gone.
My father sat beside me.
His hand covered his mouth.
Lily sat on the floor, crying silently.
Even after everything, she was still grieving someone she barely remembered.
The recording continued.
“If you are hearing this, something happened that I was afraid might happen.””
My father looked at me.
I stared at the laptop screen.
My mother continued.
“I don’t want you to be afraid. Fear makes people make mistakes.””
A small pause.
“But I need you to know the truth.””
My heart started racing.
“I discovered financial problems connected to Richard’s company.””
My father closed his eyes.
“I found evidence that someone was moving money without permission.””
The recording crackled.
“At first, I believed it was a mistake.””
My mother’s voice became softer.
“Then I found messages.””
Messages.
Between Victoria and Mark.
I looked at my father.
He already knew.
“I confronted Victoria.””
The room became silent.
My mother had confronted her.
“When I asked her about it, she told me I was being paranoid.””
My fists tightened.
“That was when I realized I couldn’t trust her.””
My father whispered:
“Sarah…”
The pain in his voice broke me.
The recording continued.
“I wanted to tell Richard everything. But I was worried about Emily.””
My name.
Again.
Everything always came back to protecting me.
“She was too young to lose another person she loved.””
I covered my face.
“But I also knew something else.””
A pause.
“Victoria had started asking questions about Emily’s trust.””
My father looked down.
“I knew it wasn’t just about money.””
The recording became quiet.
Then my mother said:
“If something happens to me, Richard, please don’t let anyone convince Emily that she is difficult.””
My father broke.
A sound escaped him.
Not a cry.
Something worse.
A man realizing he failed someone who trusted him.
“I spent years thinking I protected her,” he whispered.
Nobody answered.
Because we all knew.
He hadn’t.
The recording continued.
“Emily, if you are hearing this, I want you to remember something.””
My tears fell.
“You were never a burden.””
I couldn’t hold it anymore.
I cried.
Not the quiet tears I had hidden for years.
The kind that hurt.
The kind that carried every lonely birthday.
Every unfair punishment.
Every moment I wondered why I wasn’t enough.
My mother’s voice continued.
“You were the best thing that ever happened to me.””
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke for a long time.
Then Lily stood.
“I need to tell you something else.””
I looked at her.
“What?””
She wiped her face.
“Before the tablet incident…”
She looked ashamed.
“I found another thing in Mom’s office.””
My father frowned.
“What?””
“A notebook.””
“What notebook?””
Lily hesitated.
“It had Emily’s name in it.””
My heart sank.
“What did it say?””
“I don’t know everything.””
She looked at me.
“But I saw one sentence.””
“What sentence?””
Lily swallowed.
“She wrote that if the plan failed, they would make Emily look unstable.””
The room went cold.
My father stood.
“What plan?””
Lily looked terrified.
“I think Mom and Mark wanted to make everyone believe Emily couldn’t manage the trust money.””
I understood immediately.
They didn’t just want my inheritance.
They wanted control.
They wanted me to seem incapable.
They wanted people to doubt me.
My father grabbed his jacket.
“Where is the notebook?””
Lily looked away.
“I don’t have it.””
“Where is it?””
“Mom found out I had it.””
My father froze.
“What happened?””
“She took it.””
“When?””
Lily whispered:
“The day before Emily found the tablet.””
A horrible realization hit me.
The tablet wasn’t random.
It was a distraction.
A way to create another story.
A way to make me look guilty.
Then my phone buzzed.
Everyone looked at it.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
But something made me answer.
“Hello?””
Nobody spoke.
Then a man’s voice said:
“Emily Carter?””
“Yes?””
“My name is Detective Harris. We found something connected to your mother’s case.””
My father stood immediately.
“What is it?””
I put the phone on speaker.
The detective continued.
“We found a second vehicle involved in the accident.””
My heart stopped.
“What?””
“Yes.””
My father grabbed the phone.
“What does that mean?””
The detective paused.
“It means your mother’s death may not have been an accident.””
Nobody breathed.
Then he said the words that changed everything.
“We found evidence that someone tampered with the vehicle before the crash.””
I looked at Victoria’s empty chair.
The one she had sat in for years.
The one where she smiled and pretended to love us.
My father whispered:
“Who?””
The detective answered:
“We don’t know yet.””
A pause.
“But we found a fingerprint.””
My hands went cold.
“Whose fingerprint?””
The detective was silent.
May you like
Then:
“Victoria Carter’s.””
