Chương 4
“The company had problems before.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“People fighting for control.”
“People wanting access to money they did not earn.”
His voice became quieter.
“But then I discovered something worse.”
He looked directly at the camera.
“Someone close to me was helping them.”
The entire room became still.
Eleanor’s face changed.
Not surprise.
Fear.
I saw it.
Everyone saw it.
Sterling noticed too.
David continued.
“I spent weeks trying to confirm what I knew.”
“I needed proof.”
“I needed to be certain.”
He paused.
“I was wrong about one thing.”
The silence stretched.
“I thought I had more time.”
The screen blurred through my tears.
David took a breath.
“Sarah, I am sorry.”
I shook my head even though he could not see me.
“No.”
The word left my mouth quietly.
A few people looked at me.
I did not care.
“I should have trusted you with the truth.”
He said.
“I thought keeping you away from danger was the same as protecting you.”
His mouth tightened.
“But I was wrong.”
That was the David I knew.
The man who could admit when he was wrong even when it hurt him.
“I need you to know something about the baby.”
My hand immediately moved over my stomach.
“The child is mine.”
The relief was so sudden it almost felt painful.
I closed my eyes.
Of all the cruel things that had happened that morning, that accusation had cut deepest.
Not because I doubted myself.
Because David was not there to defend us.
David looked down.
“The DNA report Eleanor brought today is fake.”
A movement came from the front row.
Eleanor stepped back.
“You knew,” she whispered.
Nobody answered.
David continued.
“But there is something Sarah needs to understand.”
My eyes opened.
“What?”
The word barely escaped.
David looked at the camera.
“If they are willing to fake a paternity test, they are willing to do much more.”
The screen went dark.
The video ended.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then everyone began speaking at once.
The priest asked people to remain calm.
Guests turned toward Eleanor.
Chloe looked like she wanted to disappear.
Sterling immediately shut down the projector.
“Everyone needs to leave the front area.”
Eleanor did not move.
She stared at the blank screen.
“He thought I would hurt him.”
Her voice sounded strangely empty.
Not angry.
Broken.
Sterling looked at her.
“You should ask yourself why.”
Her eyes snapped toward him.
“You think you know my family?”
“No.”
His answer was immediate.
“I know David.”
That seemed to hurt her more.
Because maybe that was the one thing she could not fight.
Her son had trusted someone else with his fear.
Not her.
The funeral continued twenty minutes later.
But it was not really a funeral anymore.
It was a room full of people trying to decide what reality they had just witnessed.
I sat beside the coffin because my legs no longer trusted me.
A woman named Margaret, one of David’s employees, quietly sat beside me.
She had always been kind but distant.
“You should not be alone right now,” she whispered.
I looked at her.
“Did you know?”
She looked down.
“I knew David was worried.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Her silence answered.
I swallowed.
“How many people knew he was afraid?”
Margaret rubbed her hands together.
“Not many.”
“Who?”
She looked toward Eleanor.
Then away.
“I do not want to make things worse.”
I almost laughed.
A bitter sound.
“Margaret, my husband is dead.”
I looked at the coffin.
“I am standing here while his mother tries to take my home and call my child a lie.”
My voice cracked.
“I think things are already worse.”
She closed her eyes briefly.
“David asked me to keep copies of certain files.”
My heart started beating faster.
“What files?”
“Financial records.”
“Messages.”
“Anything unusual.”
“Why?”
“Because he said someone was trying to make him look unstable.”
I stared at her.
“Unstable?”
She nodded.
“Someone wanted people to believe David was paranoid.”
That detail settled somewhere in my mind.
Not as a fact.
As a clue.
“Who had access to those files?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Sarah.”
I turned.
She looked uncomfortable.
“Before I say anything else, I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I liked David.”
She swallowed.
“He was a good boss.”
“But he was not perfect.”
I appreciated the honesty.
More than comfort.
More than sympathy.
“What do you mean?”
“He trusted people too much.”
A strange sadness crossed her face.
“He always believed if he explained himself clearly enough, people would choose the right thing.”
I looked toward the empty screen.
That sounded exactly like him.
“He believed everyone had a better version of themselves hidden somewhere,” I said.
Margaret nodded.
“And sometimes that made him miss the person standing in front of him.”
The words stayed with me.
Because they applied to me too.
I had spent years believing David was simply busy.
Late meetings.
Secret calls.
Closed office doors.
I had accepted his explanations because I loved him.
Now I wondered what I had not seen.
Sterling approached us.
“Sarah.”
I stood slowly.
“What happens now?”
He looked toward the exit where Eleanor and Chloe had disappeared.
“Now we secure everything.”
“From them?”
“From anyone.”
That answer bothered me.
“Anyone?”
Sterling lowered his voice.
“David was careful.”
“But he was not only worried about his family.”
My stomach tightened.
“What else?”
He glanced around before answering.
“There was another person involved.”
“Who?”
“I do not know yet.”
I stared at him.
“You do not know?”
“No.”
That was the first time I had seen Sterling admit uncertainty.
“It is possible David did not know either.”
The idea frightened me.
Because if David had spent weeks searching for the truth and still had questions, then whatever was happening was bigger than a family fight.
Outside the cathedral, cameras waited behind the gates.
May you like
The funeral had already become public.
That was another thing David had tried to protect me from.
