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Chapter 22

'Oh God...' the only response she could conceivably produce. What was this? Some kind of sick joke? She walked through the foyer of Grayson Manor, and upstairs. The Graysons really had been behind it this whole time! They'd gotten Aiden to kidnap her, and hold her in their basement. Disgusted, she continued on her walk out of the house.

She heard a faint buzzing noise emanating from the bathroom. She tiptoed in, and there, sprawled out, inside the bath, in one of his best suits, was the bloody corpse of Conrad Grayson. His wrists had been slit, the knife swimming in the concoction of water and blood that surrounded his fly-ridden remains. A note lay, folded, in the sink. It read:

Daniel,

I'm sorry I haven't been around for you too much. It seems that my family that I worked so hard to protect, fell apart after I did all that was in my power to keep it together.

Because now, I'd like to come clean to the world. I need you to tell the world about what I did in fact do to prevent the inevitable. It has been weighing on my conscience ever since.

I framed David Clarke. In doing so, I robbed him of his life, and his family. I shudder to think what happened to that poor man. He paid the price for my mistakes, and I think it's time people knew. In my briefcase, there's a key, it opens a safe deposit box, in Zurich. In the safe deposit box, is all the evidence necessary to exonerate him. Go, get the evidence, and present it with this letter.

Your mother has been and always will be the great love of my life. There's nothing I wouldn't do for her, nothing I haven't done for her. I helped her to organise your wife's assassination, which, unfortunately, cost you and Emily the life of your child.

Which brings me to the final reason I sit here, writing this letter. Currently, Emily is missing. You have no idea where she is. But, I do. We, your mother and I, had her kidnapped by Aiden Mathis. She's in the basement, we had planned to poison her drink, but I don't know what's become of her at this point.

Right my wrongs. You're a better man than I.

My love always,

Dad.

Emily pocketed the letter, and decided she'd better go to the beach house and call the police. Not forgetting her husband. Where could he be? Surely, she thought, he wouldn't have stayed in Paris, after she'd been taken. No, he was smarter than that. Smarter than people gave him credit for.

Remembering to pick up the briefcase on her way, Emily retreated back through the house, out, and into the big, wide, open, world.

She took off, and ran like the wind. Home. Home was all that occupied the small corridor of thought left vacant by the week's unfortunate affairs. The wind sang to her, combing through her locks of untamed golden tresses, serenading her return to the land that time forgot. She traipsed along the shore, eager to reunite with her husband.

She ingressed into the house, cautiously, not wanting to startle anyone, noticing that there was no one there, she set the briefcase on the kitchen island, and took her first shower in about a week. She brushed her teeth, and her hair. She welcomed the cleanliness of civilization, and freedom. She heard someone enter the house, and Daniel's voice shouting 'Who's there?!'

Emily threw on a dressing gown, scurried downstairs, and leapt into Daniel's arms. Emily's eyes began to brim with tears, as Daniel stepped back from the embrace, looked into Emily's eyes, and said 'I thought I might never see you again. I have so many questions!' Emily looked down, and whispered 'Your father is dead, Daniel. He's killed himself.'

© Sarah Egan 2013 - 2014 This story is subject to copyright and may not be copied or reproduced without the express permission of the author.