What Caleb Was Protecting
Chapter 07 - What Caleb Was Protecting
Caleb arrived at the hospital the next morning.
He looked older than Jax remembered.
Gray hair.
Tired eyes.
The confidence Jax once hated was gone.
Lily stood near Rachel's room.
Caleb stopped when he saw her.
"My God."
Lily didn't smile.
"You knew about me."
Caleb lowered his head.
"Yes."
"Since before I was born?"
"Yes."
Jax stepped forward.
"Why?"
Caleb looked at him.
"The garage."
Jax frowned.
"What about it?"
Their father had been in serious financial trouble before he died.
The Morgan family garage was nearly bankrupt.
Jax knew that part.
He didn't know Rachel's father had offered to buy the property.
Rachel overheard the negotiations.
She convinced her father to loan the Morgan family money instead.
The debt was quietly forgiven after Jax's father died.
Caleb had always believed Rachel would eventually demand ownership.
"That's insane."
"I was scared."
"So you destroyed my family?"
"I thought she wanted something."
Jax laughed bitterly.
"She wanted me."
Caleb looked at Lily.
"I didn't understand that."
"No," Lily said.
"You didn't bother to."
Caleb accepted it.
Then he revealed the reason for the photograph.
He had left it at Jax's shop.
Not as a threat.
As a warning.
"I saw Martin two weeks ago."
Jax stared.
"What?"
"He came to me asking about Rachel."
"Why?"
"He knew I had kept you apart."
Caleb swallowed.
"He wanted me to do it again."
Martin offered him money.
Caleb refused.
Then Martin threatened to expose what Caleb had done sixteen years earlier.
Jax stared at his brother.
"And you were afraid I'd find out?"
Caleb nodded.
"At first."
"Then?"
"I realized Rachel might be in danger."
"Why didn't you call me?"
Caleb's eyes filled.
"Because every time I had a chance to do the right thing, I remembered the last wrong thing I did."
Jax said nothing.
Caleb reached into his coat.
He removed an envelope.
"Martin gave me this."
Inside was a copy of a life insurance policy.
Rachel Dawson.
$1.5 million.
Beneficiary:
Martin Dawson.
May you like
The policy had been purchased only eleven months earlier.
And suddenly Rachel's fall down the stairs looked even less like an accident.
