Part 3

“I mean Julian didn’t just vanish,” I said, plugging the flash drive into my laptop. “He knew Vale’s company was illegally dumping chemical runoff into the local groundwater—the same runoff that caused dozens of unexplained illnesses in this county ten years ago. Julian gathered water samples, plant manifests, and insider testimony.”

I turned the screen toward Richard.

A scanned document appeared, dated three weeks before my parents threw me out.

It was a witness statement signed by Richard himself, describing toxic barrels being transported from the plant after midnight.

Dad sucked in a breath.

His trembling finger touched his own signature on the screen.

“They… they threatened us, Evelyn,” Dad choked out, tears finally breaking past his hardened exterior. “The night before you told us you were pregnant, Vale came to this house. He told me if anyone spoke up, if any evidence surfaced, my family would be destroyed. When you told me you were pregnant with Julian’s child… I panicked. I thought if I pushed you away, if I cut you off completely, Vale wouldn’t target you or the baby.”