Chapter 13 - THE NAME IN THE OLD LEDGERWe returned to New York with Eli.
My father was no longer alive to answer our questions.
Neither was our mother.
So we had to search their records.
We opened the oldest financial ledger in the foundation archives.
Thousands of names.
Thousands of transactions.
Then Samuel noticed one recurring payment.
A small amount.
Every month.
For twenty years.
Paid to a company called Northstar Children Services.
The company no longer existed.
But its founder was listed.
Edmund Vance.
Our father's younger cousin.
My eyes widened.
“Edmund?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I've never heard Dad mention him.”
“He was never part of the public family.”
“Why?”
“Maybe because he wasn't supposed to be.”
We searched.
Edmund had disappeared in 1994.
No death certificate.
No estate.
No public record.
It seemed that everyone who mattered in our family's darkest history had either died mysteriously or simply vanished.
Then we found Edmund's last known address.
A property in Maine.
We drove there.
An elderly man answered the door.
He looked at us.
Then at Eli.
His face changed.
“Jonathan.”
Eli stepped forward.
“I'm Eli.”
The man began to cry.
“You're alive.”
“Who are you?”
“Edmund.”
My blood ran cold.
He had been alive all along.
We entered the house.
The walls were covered with old photographs.
Our parents.
Our mother.
Our grandfather.
And children.
Four of them.
All of us.
Edmund showed us a hidden journal.
“I was instructed to transfer one child.”
“Who gave the order?”
He stared at the floor.
“Your grandfather.”
We were stunned.
“Why?”
“He believed the family trust would be destroyed if all the heirs remained together.”
“So he separated us.”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“Because he believed enemies would use you.”
“He protected us.”
“Yes.”
“But someone later used the separation.”
Edmund nodded.
“Your uncle.”
I froze.
“Which one?”
“Charles.”
The same Charles Mercer whose role had been hidden.
Edmund explained that Charles had discovered the children's separation.
He began manipulating the family trust.
He convinced people that some children were dead.
Others were given new identities.
He intended to control the estate by eliminating every independent heir.
“Did he know about me?”
“Yes.”
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“Samuel?”
“Yes.”
“Lily?”
“Yes.”
“And Eli?”
Edmund hesitated.
“Especially Eli.”
“Why?”
“Because Eli possessed the final genetic marker.”
“What marker?”
“The trust's security system required a biological match from a specific branch of the family.”
We stared.
Eli had never been simply a lost child.
He was the key to unlocking the original trust.
The entire hidden fortune depended on him.
Charles had known.
That's why he disappeared.
Edmund handed us a key.
“This is what your grandfather left.”
“What does it open?”
“The original family archive.”
“Where?”
“Under the old Vance headquarters.”
We looked at each other.
The building had been abandoned twenty years ago.
No one had entered the lower levels since.
We thanked Edmund.
Then returned to New York.
That night, I opened the old headquarters.
The basement was dark.
Dust covered everything.
We found a steel door.
Eli inserted the key.
The door opened.
Inside was the original trust archive.
May you like
And sitting on top of the central table was a letter.
Addressed to all four of us.
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