Chapter 8 - The Secret Beneath the CrashI didn't speak.
I couldn't.
The message on my phone burned into my mind.
Ask Tobias what he saw in the car before our parents died.
For fifteen years, I had believed the worst thing about that night was losing my parents.
I was wrong.
The worst thing was realizing I had never known the whole story.
Not from Garrett.
Not from Victoria.
Not even from Tobias.
My brother stood behind the glass wall, watching me.
He already knew.
That was the part that hurt the most.
Not the secret.
The fact that he was still carrying one.
"Rosalind."
My father’s voice pulled me back.
I looked at him.
"Did you know?"
He frowned.
"Know what?"
"That Tobias saw something else that night."
The room went silent.
My father's expression changed.
Not surprise.
Fear.
And that told me everything.
"You knew."
He looked down.
"I knew he remembered more than he told me."
My heart sank.
"So everyone knew except me."
"Rosalind—"
"No."
I stood.
"Everyone decided what I could handle."
My voice shook.
"Everyone decided I needed protection."
My father reached toward me.
I stepped back.
The movement hurt him.
I saw it.
But I couldn't stop.
Because I was tired.
Tired of being the last person to know the truth about my own life.
I found Tobias in the hallway.
He was standing near the window, staring at the parking lot.
The rain had stopped.
But everything still felt cold.
"You knew about the message."
He didn't turn around.
"Yes."
My chest tightened.
"What did you see?"
Silence.
"Tobias."
He closed his eyes.
"I was hoping you would never ask me that."
"Why?"
"Because if you knew, you would never look at me the same way again."
I stared at him.
"Try me."
He slowly turned.
His face looked older than it had hours ago.
"I saw someone inside the car."
My breath caught.
"Our parents' car?"
He nodded.
"Before it went over the cliff."
I waited.
"Who?"
His jaw tightened.
"I don't know."
The answer frustrated me.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"It was dark."
He rubbed his hands together.
"It was raining. I was fifteen. I was scared."
I softened slightly.
Then he continued.
"But I saw a hand."
"A hand?"
"Someone was in the driver's seat."
My stomach twisted.
"But Dad was driving."
"Yes."
"Then who was there?"
Tobias looked away.
"I don't know."
The silence between us felt unbearable.
"But I saw something else."
"What?"
His eyes met mine.
"The person inside the car wasn't trying to stop the accident."
I felt sick.
"They were trying to make sure nobody survived."
The hallway seemed to disappear.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
His expression broke.
"Because I thought I caused it."
I frowned.
"What?"
"I told you I pulled the brake line."
"Yes."
"I thought when I touched the car, I made everything worse."
His voice became quieter.
"But years later, I found out the brake line had already been cut before I touched it."
I stared.
"Then why hide this?"
"Because the person in that car saw me."
A chill ran through me.
"What?"
Tobias nodded.
"Before the crash, they looked at me."
"Who?"
He swallowed.
"I saw their face for one second."
My heartbeat increased.
"Who was it?"
He didn't answer.
"Tobias."
His eyes filled with pain.
"It was someone we loved."
The words felt impossible.
"Who?"
He whispered:
"Mom."
I stepped back.
"No."
"I know what it sounds like."
"No."
I shook my head.
"My mother was the victim."
Tobias looked devastated.
"I know."
"She died."
"Yes."
"Then how could she be in the car?"
He looked at me.
"Because I don't think she was alive."
The confusion was overwhelming.
"What are you saying?"
"I think someone put her in the car after she was already unconscious."
I stared.
"And Dad?"
"I don't know."
The world felt upside down.
My mother.
My father.
The accident.
Everything was changing shape.
Before I could ask more, Detective Bennett approached.
"Rosalind."
I turned.
"We need to move."
"Why?"
"Because Garrett knows where the estate is."
My blood ran cold.
"What estate?"
She looked at my father.
"The Montgomery estate."
My father stood immediately.
"Then we're too late."
The drive back to my childhood home felt unreal.
Every tree.
Every road.
Every corner carried memories.
I remembered running through those gates.
I remembered my father lifting me onto his shoulders.
I remembered my mother singing in the kitchen.
A perfect life.
A life that apparently never existed.
Police vehicles surrounded the property when we arrived.
The front doors were open.
Too open.
Detective Bennett raised her hand.
"Everyone stays behind us."
But I barely heard her.
Because someone had already been inside.
The house was destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Paintings torn from walls.
Cabinets broken.
Someone wasn't searching.
They were desperate.
"What are they looking for?" I asked.
My father looked toward his old office.
"The documents."
We moved quickly.
The office door was damaged.
Inside, everything had been thrown apart.
My father's old desk was broken.
The bookshelf had been emptied.
Then I noticed something.
A painting.
Hanging crooked on the wall.
A painting of our family.
My father.
My mother.
Tobias.
Me.
I walked toward it.
Something felt wrong.
The frame.
There was a small gap behind it.
My father noticed.
"Wait."
He touched the painting.
Then pressed the corner.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a small box.
Everyone went silent.
My father removed it carefully.
His hands shook.
"I thought this was gone."
He opened it.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
And a small recording device.
Detective Bennett picked it up.
"What is this?"
"My insurance."
My father looked at me.
"Before the accident, I knew something might happen."
He handed the device to the detective.
"Play it."
She pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then my father's voice.
Fifteen years younger.
"If you're hearing this, then something happened to me."
I stopped breathing.
My father's voice continued.
"Thomas Montgomery speaking. Today I discovered that someone close to my family has been stealing from the company."
A pause.
"I also discovered something worse."
The recording crackled.
"My wife knows."
My heart stopped.
My mother.
My father continued.
"She knows because she was involved."
Everyone froze.
I looked at Tobias.
He looked as shocked as I was.
"No..."
The recording continued.
"Elizabeth didn't betray us willingly. She was forced."
My mother's name.
Her secret.
Another pause.
"If anything happens to us, I need my children to know the truth."
The sound of breathing.
Then:
"The person controlling everything is not Victoria."
Detective Bennett leaned closer.
The recording continued.
"It is someone who has been manipulating this family for decades."
A noise interrupted the recording.
A door opening.
My father's voice changed.
"Who is there?"
Then another voice.
A woman's voice.
Everyone froze.
Because we recognized it.
My mother's voice.
"Thomas."
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
My father stared at the device.
Impossible.
Then Detective Bennett's phone rang.
She answered.
"Detective Bennett."
Her face changed.
"What?"
She listened.
Then slowly looked at me.
"We found Garrett."
My stomach dropped.
"Where?"
She hesitated.
Then:
"At the old Montgomery cemetery."
I felt a cold wave pass through me.
"Why would he go there?"
Detective Bennett looked at the recording device.
"Because he wasn't alone."
My father stepped forward.
"Who was with him?"
The detective's expression hardened.
"Someone who was supposed to be dead."
The room went silent.
"Who?"
She looked at me.
May you like
Then said:
"Your mother."