Page 63 of Always Been You
“We’re ready,” Josh says, stepping into the room.
I glance up, a slow smirk tugging at the corner of my lips.
“Good.”
Because this is just the beginning.
Facing Uncle George and working to get Derrick out of our lives for good is the goal.
I follow Josh out to the car park, slipping into the back seat of the SUV where Simon is already in the driver’s seat.
The man has been with me since my early days in London. When I told him I needed him here, he didn’t hesitate. He said he had no family back home anyway. The bonus helped, but I know it wasn’t just about the money. Loyalty is rare, and I don’t take it for granted.
We buckle our seatbelts, and the car eases onto the road.
“There’s someone who has been trying to reach you,” Josh says, checking his phone. “The call was diverted to me.”
I arch a brow, waiting for him to continue.
“They didn’t leave a name. Just sent an encrypted file only you can access.”
That gets my attention. My fingers drum against my knee as I nod for him to open it. Josh hands me the tablet, and I get to work decrypting the file. The usual layers of security peel away, one by one. It doesn’t take long.
But when the contents load on the screen, my hand stills.
My breath locks in my chest. It’s a series of videos. Documents. Reports. My pulse slows, my vision narrowing in on the words staring back at me.
This is it. My miracle.
My jaw clenches as I force my voice to stay steady. “Who did the person say they were? And what do they want in return?”
Josh shakes his head, still staring at the screen. “Nothing. Just said you’d know what to do with it. And—” he hesitates, like he’s still processing. “It was a woman.”
A woman?
I lean back against the seat, fingers tightening around the tablet.
Who the hell is she? And why now?
I exhale through my nose, pushing past the questions racing in my head. I’ll figure that out later. Right now, I need to see what I’ve got.
“Find her,” I order. “Compensate her. Whatever she wants.”
Josh nods, but his eyes flick to the screen again. “What is that, anyway?”
I tilt the tablet, scrolling through the first document. “The evidence we’ve been looking for.”
His head snaps up. “You mean—”
I nod, my grip tightening. “Finally, Josh… finally,” I say barely above a whisper.
The bastard who stole everything from me. The man responsible for my parents’ deaths. I open the first video, my stomach twisting into knots.
The footage is grainy, timestamped from over a decade ago. I bring the phone closer to me to make sure what I am seeing is right. There is a parking garage with a shadowy figure lurking near a pillar. Then another man approaches, and they exchange something. I squint, watching closely. A small device slips from one hand, a thick envelope of cash into the other.
A deal.
The conversation is barely audible, muffled by the static, but I don’t need to hear it right now. The audio is part of the file. I’ll go through every second of it later. The documents confirm what I already knew. My uncle ordered it.
