We reached the cabin just before sunrise.

Nobody spoke.

We were exhausted.

Emma locked the door.

Mom closed the curtains.

I placed Dad’s box on the table.

Inside was a small recording device.

I pressed the button.

Static filled the room.

Then Dad’s voice came through.

“If you’re hearing this…”

He paused.

“I failed to protect you.”

I covered my mouth.

Hearing his voice again nearly broke me.

Dad explained everything.

Richard had stolen millions from the company.

Dad had discovered the fake accounts.

He secretly gathered evidence.

But Richard found out.

He threatened Dad.

Then Dad became sick.

“I don’t know how much time I have left,” Dad said in the recording.

“But I know Richard will come after my daughters.”

He paused again.

“There’s one more person involved.”

The recording stopped.

Emma looked at me.

“Who?”

Then I remembered my brother.

Daniel.

He had disappeared six months earlier.

Nobody knew where he had gone.

Dad’s records showed payments made to him.

Richard had been sending him money.

I called Daniel.

He answered immediately.

“Dad is dead, isn’t he?”

My heart sank.

“How did you know?”

Silence.

“Daniel, where are you?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re watching me.”

“Who?”

Richard.

Daniel finally agreed to meet us.

He arrived before sunrise.

He looked completely different.

Older.

Exhausted.

Afraid.

He sat down.

“I never wanted to hurt Dad.”

“Then why did you take Richard’s money?”

Daniel lowered his head.

“Because I owed him.”

“For what?”

“I borrowed money to save my company.”

Richard discovered it.

Then he used the debt to control me.

I stared at him.

“You helped him.”

“I know.”

Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’ve regretted it every day.”

Then he pulled out his phone.

“There is something else.”

He showed us a photograph.

Richard was standing beside the police officer.

The same officer who had covered up Mom’s disappearance.

Then Daniel handed me a USB drive.

“This contains everything.”

I connected it to the laptop.

Hundreds of files appeared.

Bank records.

Emails.

Photographs.

Audio recordings.

Then I saw a folder.

Its name made my blood freeze.

LENA — DO NOT OPEN.

I clicked it.

And discovered that the biggest secret in my father’s house wasn’t about Richard.

It was about me.