My parents had been murdered.
And somehow all of those truths existed inside the same day.
I sat on the bathroom floor.
Then I cried.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
I cried until my chest hurt.
When I came out, Tobias was waiting.
He handed me coffee.
I did not take it.
“Tell me everything.”
He nodded.
So he did.
After our parents’ crash, Tobias spent nine months in rehabilitation.
Doctors believed he might regain partial movement.
He did.
Slowly.
First toes.
Then ankles.
Then knees.
He told no one outside a tiny group.
Samuel had already suspected sabotage.
Our father had given him copies of financial records.
Victor Vale had been trying to buy Mercer Marine through shell companies.
Dad refused every offer.
Victor then began courting board members.
When that failed, the crash happened.
Samuel investigated privately.
But evidence disappeared.
A witness recanted.
A mechanic who inspected the car died six months later.
Officially, overdose.
Samuel did not believe it.
Neither did Tobias.
So Tobias made a decision.
He stayed in the wheelchair publicly.
He became harmless.
Invisible.
People spoke around him.
They underestimated him.
Over the years, he collected things.
Documents.
Emails.
Private recordings.
Photographs.
He learned that Victor had built relationships inside several shipping firms.
One of those firms eventually hired Garrett.
That was how Garrett entered my life.
I remembered our first meeting.
A charity dinner.
