PART 2
Oscar froze the video.
For several seconds, nobody in the hospital room spoke.
“Go back,” I whispered.
He replayed the final thirty seconds.
This time, I noticed something I had missed before.
Behind the wooden fence, partially hidden by the garden shed, was a second person.
A man.
He wasn’t helping Julian or Eleanor.
He was holding a phone.
And he was recording everything.
Oscar zoomed in as much as the footage allowed.
The man’s face became clearer.
My stomach dropped.
I knew him.
It was Richard Hale, the notary whose stamp appeared on the forged mortgage documents.
The same man whose office had supposedly witnessed my signature.
I looked at my attorney, who had just entered the room.
“That’s him,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded.
“He notarized the mortgage.”
My attorney took the tablet from Oscar and watched the footage again.
Then he looked at me.
“Evelyn, this changes everything.”
I didn’t understand.
“The recording doesn’t just show an assault,” he said. “It potentially connects the assault to the financial fraud.”
Oscar looked uncomfortable.
“There’s more.”
He opened another file from the truck’s recording system.
This one had been captured before I escaped through the gate.
Richard’s voice was faint, but recognizable.
“Once she signs the transfer, the shop belongs to the company.”
Julian answered:
“She already signed.”
Richard laughed.
“No. She didn’t.”
Silence.
Then Eleanor spoke.
“Then make sure she understands what happens if she refuses.”
I closed my eyes.
The room seemed to disappear around me.
This hadn’t been an argument that suddenly became violent.
They had planned it.
They had been trying to force me to surrender my father’s property.
My attorney immediately contacted investigators and asked Oscar to preserve the original recording rather than sending copies around.
Then something unexpected happened.
Chloe arrived at the hospital.
She looked exhausted.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
The moment she saw me, she stopped in the doorway.
“I need to tell you something.”
My attorney stepped between us.
“Before you say anything, understand that this conversation may be recorded.”
Chloe nodded.
“I know.”
She looked at me.
“I should have opened the gate sooner.”
I said nothing.
“I was scared of them.”
Her voice broke.
“Julian told me they were only going to scare you. He said nobody would hurt you.”
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