Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN ADRIAN COULD NOT FORGIVE
Adrian stared at his mother.
Margaret looked older than she had the previous week.
She removed her gloves.
“Adrian.”
He stepped between her and Claire.
“You have five seconds.”
Margaret looked at him.
“I know.”
“You threatened my wife?”
“No.”
“You entered my house?”
“No.”
“You knew she was being watched.”
“Yes.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Why?”
Margaret looked at Claire.
“Because I knew what would happen if the people behind this found her.”
Claire stepped forward.
“You knew for months.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you help me?”
Margaret's eyes filled.
“Because every time I tried, they made the threat worse.”
Claire's voice shook.
“They left a gun in my bedroom.”
Margaret looked horrified.
“I didn't know.”
“They photographed me.”
“I know.”
“They threatened my baby.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“I know.”
Adrian looked at her.
“How?”
Margaret took a small envelope from her purse.
Inside was a stack of letters.
All addressed to her.
The first was dated six months earlier.
The final one was from three days ago.
Each contained the same threat.
Protect the family or lose it.
Margaret sat down.
“I thought I could contain this.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“You couldn't.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I was wrong.”
That admission seemed to cost her everything.
Then Margaret revealed something worse.
“Your father wasn't killed because of the money.”
Adrian stiffened.
“Then why?”
“Because he discovered who was using the company.”
“Who?”
Margaret looked at Marcus.
“His own board.”
Adrian stared.
The theft involved several executives.
But the person coordinating them was someone outside the company.
Someone who controlled their debt.
Someone who had quietly purchased influence in the banks that financed Cole Meridian.
Adrian knew the name.
“Richard Hale.”
His mother's silence confirmed it.
Richard Hale had been Adrian's first mentor.
He had introduced Adrian to major investors.
He had attended Adrian and Claire's wedding.
He had given Adrian his first billion-dollar contract.
He was also the man Adrian trusted when no one else did.
Claire whispered, “Why would he do this?”
Margaret answered.
“Your father discovered Richard was using Cole Meridian's expansion projects to force companies into dependency.”
Adrian remembered something.
The Gulf Coast expansion.
The emergency financing.
The private debt agreement.
Richard had arranged all of it.
Adrian's stomach turned.
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because Richard threatened you.”
Margaret's voice broke.
“He told me that if I exposed him, you would be blamed for crimes you didn't commit.”
Adrian looked toward Marcus.
“And you knew?”
Marcus nodded.
“We were trying to build a case.”
“Six years?”
“Yes.”
Claire suddenly looked at the suitcase upstairs.
“The divorce papers.”
Everyone looked at her.
She whispered, “Richard wanted me to sign them.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because if I divorced you while pregnant, the inheritance arrangements would change.”
Margaret nodded.
“That was the plan.”
Adrian understood.
The threats weren't simply about destroying his marriage.
They were about gaining control over the family trust.
But there was one problem.
Claire wasn't the only person who could inherit.
Their unborn child was already named in a sealed trust.
Adrian looked at Marcus.
“Richard wants the baby.”
Marcus nodded.
“Not physically.”
“Then what?”
“Control.”
He explained that if Adrian were removed from the company and Claire were forced out, the trust would temporarily be managed by a third-party trustee.
Richard had arranged for that trustee to be one of his associates.
The baby would become the legal beneficiary.
Richard would control the assets.
Adrian looked at Claire.
“So the divorce was never about Elena.”
“No.”
“It was about our son.”
Claire nodded.
Then Margaret said quietly:
“There is one more thing.”
Adrian turned.
“Richard couldn't have done this alone.”
Margaret looked at Claire.
“He needed someone inside the house.”
Claire's face went pale.
“Evelyn.”
“No.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not Evelyn.”
She looked toward the stairs.
“The person Richard has been using is the one who packed that suitcase.”
Claire looked down at her hands.
“I packed it.”
Margaret shook her head.
“You packed it.”
“But someone added something.”
Adrian opened the suitcase.
Beneath the clothes was a small black notebook.
Claire stared.
“I've never seen that.”
Adrian opened it.
Inside were account numbers.
Names.
Dates.
And one photograph.
It showed Adrian's father standing beside Richard Hale.
On the back was one sentence.
Richard didn't start this.
Adrian's blood ran cold.
May you like
Then a second sentence appeared beneath it.
He inherited it.
