Chapter 10 - Matthew Had Been Paying Gregory
Daniel called his brother.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Matthew’s apartment was empty.
His car remained in the garage.
Passport gone.
Eleanor cried when Daniel told her.
“No.”
Daniel understood.
He had said the same thing about Vanessa.
Then Rachel.
Then his father.
At some point disbelief stopped being evidence.
Investigators traced Matthew’s financial records.
Debt.
Large amounts.
Sports betting.
Private loans.
Then deposits.
Gregory Shaw had been paying him.
Not the reverse.
Matthew used Eleanor’s accounts to send money to Gregory.
Gregory returned a portion through shell companies.
A laundering loop.
Daniel felt sick.
His brother had been stealing from their mother.
But why involve Pierce?
Because Eleanor had noticed.
Six months earlier, she questioned a bank statement.
Matthew panicked.
Gregory introduced him to Pierce.
Pierce already knew exactly how to create plausible confusion.
He had done it to Laura.
They adjusted Eleanor’s medication.
Moved objects.
Denied conversations.
Made her doubt herself.
Then Rachel entered the picture.
Vanessa’s search for the ledger created a convenient second scheme.
Matthew encouraged it.
If Rachel was caught, everyone would blame her.
If Vanessa was exposed, the family would focus on Laura and Thomas.
Nobody would examine Matthew.
Daniel stared at the timeline.
“It worked.”
For weeks, it had.
Then Eleanor refused the spoon.
Daniel installed cameras.
And one tiny medicine cup began unraveling thirty years of secrets.
Matthew finally called.
“Danny.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Where are you?”
“I’m safe.”
“Mom wasn’t.”
Silence.
“I never wanted her hurt.”
“You helped drug her.”
“I needed time.”
“To steal from her?”
“To pay Gregory.”
“Why?”
Matthew’s voice broke.
“Because he had something on me.”
Daniel waited.
“What?”
“A video.”
“What video?”
Matthew started crying.
“Dad.”
Daniel froze.
“What about Dad?”
“His death.”
Thomas had supposedly suffered a heart attack alone in his office.
Matthew had been nineteen.
He told police he found their father afterward.
But Gregory’s video showed something else.
Matthew was in the office before Thomas collapsed.
Daniel whispered, “Did you kill him?”
“No!”
“What happened?”
“He was yelling at me.”
“About what?”
“I found the ledger.”
Daniel stopped.
Matthew had discovered everything twelve years earlier.
Thomas caught him reading it.
They fought.
Thomas grabbed him.
Matthew shoved him away.
Thomas fell.
Then clutched his chest.
Matthew panicked.
Instead of calling immediately, he called Gregory.
Gregory arrived.
And waited.
“How long?”
Matthew sobbed.
“Eleven minutes.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Eleven minutes before anyone called an ambulance.
Gregory filmed part of it.
Then spent twelve years owning Matthew with that footage.
Daniel whispered, “Come home.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I’ll go to prison.”
“Maybe.”
Silence.
“But if you keep running, Gregory still owns you.”
Matthew breathed shakily.
Daniel continued.
“Come home and tell the truth.”
Then another voice entered the call.
Gregory.
“Bad advice, Daniel.”
May you like
The line went dead.
Matthew was not alone.
