She needed to say it out loud. Elijah listened without interrupting. Then, after a long silence, he began his own story. “That man is not my father. To make sense of any of this, I need to start at the beginning. Otherwise none of it will add up.
My parents were wealthy. My father, Samuel Mitford, owned a chain of hotels across the state. My mother, Diane Mitford, was a well-known attorney. Important people came to her for help. When I was three, my father started getting threats from competitors who wanted his business. So he had a will drawn up. Under it, everything was left to me—but only when I turned twenty-three. I think that clause is what started all of this. My twenty-third birthday is next week. My father had a close business partner named Frank Caldwell.
He was considered my father’s right-hand man and was also a distant relative. My father trusted him completely. Not long after that, my father was killed when gunmen opened fire on his car. My mother’s heart gave out not long after. She couldn’t survive the shock.
At three years old, I was an orphan. Frank became my guardian. Yes—the same man who came to see you. He also took control of my father’s entire business empire.
As far back as I can remember, he made sure I understood I owed him for not sending me into foster care. He never beat me, but there was no affection either. When I turned thirteen, he married a much younger woman named Linda. After that, I became an inconvenience. They shipped me off to a private boarding school in England.
That’s where I grew up. I finished college there and eventually decided to come back home. I wanted to start a business of my own, which did not sit well with my guardian. He liked having me under control. I only learned about the will by accident, when I visited my old nanny, Anna. She had been with our family through all of it.
She knew what happened and kept quiet for years. Once I confronted Frank and started looking for the attorney who had handled the papers, things moved fast. First came anonymous threats telling me to leave town. I ignored them. A week later, I was kidnapped.
They kept me in a cabin in the woods. They beat me and tried to force me to give up the inheritance. I only got away because one of the men left and I faked being sick so they’d take me outside. Usually two men watched me.
Once we got away from the cabin, I shoved the one with me and ran. I hid in a pile of wet leaves and stayed there for almost a day, barely breathing. Then I crawled out and started walking, hoping I’d find a road.
That’s where you found me. I have no doubt now who ordered the kidnapping. It’s obvious who stood to benefit if I gave up my claim.” Maggie threw up her hands. “Good grief, Elijah, it’s obvious.
It had to be your guardian. Who else? You need to go straight to the police and the DA before he tries again.” Elijah nodded slowly. “That makes sense.
What I still don’t understand is why he didn’t get rid of me when I was a child. The will says that if I couldn’t inherit, everything would go to Frank.” Maggie answered at once. “Then you got lucky. He probably didn’t know the will existed until recently—until you let something slip. But I’m sure he’s behind this.
I saw his face. He looked like a man with something to hide.” In the end, Maggie personally drove Elijah to the district attorney’s office, where he gave a full statement, and then to the police. Once the investigation got moving, ugly truths came out. It turned out Frank Caldwell had not only arranged Elijah’s kidnapping, but had also played a direct role in the murder of Elijah’s father. In effect, he had destroyed the entire Mitford family.
For Elijah, it was devastating. He was furious. He asked the prosecutor to arrange a meeting with Frank in custody. He wanted to look him in the eye and ask one question: why? He still half believed the man might show some remorse, especially with life in prison on the table.
But Frank was smug. “Well, Elijah, feeling proud of yourself?
