Chapter 6
Ethan staggered backward.
“What?”
Nobody looked at him.
I couldn’t take my eyes off my father.
The video was four years old.
But seeing him alive made time collapse.
His voice.
His hands.
The way he adjusted his glasses before saying something serious.
For one terrible second, I wanted to reach through the screen.
Dad continued.
“Margaret Walker approached Marcus two years ago seeking private financing for her husband’s company. She became more involved than Charles realizes.”
Ethan whispered, “No.”
My father looked exhausted.
“I have evidence that Margaret and Marcus created offshore entities to move Hawthorne funds into Walker-linked projects.”
Richard paused the video.
I turned sharply.
“Why did you stop?”
“There’s corruption in the file after this point. We’re restoring it.”
“Play what you have.”
He continued.
Dad said, “Charles is guilty of cowardice and financial misconduct. Robert is guilty of much more. But Margaret…”
The screen flickered.
Audio broke apart.
Then returned.
“…underestimated her.”
More static.
“…if anything happens to me…”
The image froze.
Then jumped ahead.
My father was standing now.
He leaned close to the camera.
“Claire, the safest place is the one nobody thinks belongs to you.”
The video ended.
I stared at the black screen.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel whispered, “I have no idea.”
Ethan sat down.
“My mother knew your father.”
“Apparently better than she admitted.”
“She told me they met twice.”
I looked at him.
“When?”
“Years ago. She said it was through Dad.”
Richard frowned.
“Jonathan’s calendar shows nine private meetings with Margaret Walker.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
I felt almost sorry for him.
Almost.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
“My mother.”
I stood immediately.
“Answer it.”
He did.
“Mom?”
Margaret’s voice was loud enough for us to hear.
“Ethan, where are you?”
“At Hawthorne.”
Silence.
Then, “Why?”
“I’m with Claire.”
Margaret’s tone changed.
“Put her on.”
Ethan looked at me.
I held out my hand.
“Margaret.”
“You need to stop what you’re doing.”
“You seem to have confused me with someone who takes instructions from you.”
“This isn’t a joke.”
“I know.”
“You’re going to destroy all of us.”
“No. I’m trying to discover how much your family stole.”
“Your father stole too.”
My pulse jumped.
“Explain.”
“He wasn’t the saint you think.”
“Then explain.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Ask Daniel.”
I looked at my attorney.
He frowned.
Margaret continued.
“Ask him why Jonathan created a second trust.”
Daniel went still.
I saw it.
Margaret heard my silence.
“Oh. He never told you.”
I turned to Daniel.
“Second trust?”
He said quietly, “Claire, I don’t know what she means.”
Margaret laughed.
“Liar.”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Safe.”
“With Robert?”
She didn’t answer.
I continued.
“Marcus?”
Still nothing.
Then she said, “If you freeze Walker Development completely, innocent people lose jobs.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Thousands of families depend on that company.”
“And you depended on mine.”
“You have more money than you could spend in ten lifetimes!”
Her rage exploded through the phone.
“There it is,” I said.
“What?”
“The reason you thought stealing was justified.”
“You inherited everything!”
“And you believe that means you deserve it?”
“You didn’t earn Hawthorne.”
I laughed once.
“Neither did you.”
She hung up.
Ethan stared at the phone.
“I don’t know who she is.”
I looked at him.
“You knew enough.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
That answer surprised me.
He didn’t defend himself.
“I know,” he repeated. “I saw what I wanted to see.”
I looked away.
There was nothing he could say that would fix us.
But for the first time, he seemed to understand that.
Daniel was still staring at the black tablet screen.
I turned.
“What second trust?”
“I genuinely don’t know.”
“Did Dad ever create structures without you?”
“Occasionally.”
“You were his attorney.”
“He had other counsel for international matters.”
Richard started typing.
“I’ll search our corporate records.”
Daniel said, “A private trust may not appear there.”
“Then where?”
He looked at me.
“The safest place is the one nobody thinks belongs to you.”
My father’s words.
We all fell silent.
I thought about everything Dad owned.
The penthouse.
The lake house.
Hawthorne Tower.
Investment properties.
All obvious.
Then I remembered something.
A storage unit.
Not mine.
My mother’s.
She had died when I was twelve.
After her death, Dad kept paying for a small storage space in Evanston.
I had asked him once why he kept it.
He told me some memories deserved privacy.
After Dad died, I kept paying automatically.
I hadn’t visited in years.
“The storage unit.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“Dad kept Mom’s old things in Evanston.”
“That could be it.”
Ethan stood.
“I’ll come.”
“No.”
“Claire—”
“No.”
“I want to help.”
“You can help by going back to your family and finding out where Margaret went.”
He looked wounded.
“Do you trust me at all?”
“No.”
The word was cruel.
But true.
His eyes dropped.
“I’ll find her.”
He left.
Daniel, Richard, two security officers, and I drove to Evanston.
The storage facility manager recognized my identification.
The unit was registered under my mother’s maiden name.
Rebecca Hale.
Nobody would connect it to Hawthorne.
My father had been right.
The safest place was one nobody thought belonged to me.
The lock had dust around it.
No obvious tampering.
Inside were boxes of my mother’s clothes.
Books.
Old photographs.
A rocking chair.
Christmas decorations.
For twenty minutes, we found nothing.
Then Richard noticed marks on the floor beneath a cabinet.
It had been moved before.
We pushed it aside.
Behind it was a small steel safe built into the wall.
Daniel stared.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
There was a keypad.
Four digits.
I tried my birthday.
Wrong.
My mother’s birthday.
Wrong.
Dad’s.
Wrong.
Then I remembered something he used to say.
“Your mother gave me the best day of my life twice.”
I entered the date they met.
The safe clicked.
Inside were paper files.
Three flash drives.
A passport.
And a sealed envelope with my name.
My hands shook as I opened it.
Claire,
If you are reading this, something went wrong.
I sat on the floor.
I couldn’t stand anymore.
Dad’s handwriting continued.
The people threatening Hawthorne believe they are stealing money.
They are wrong.
What they are actually trying to steal is control.
Hawthorne’s public structure is only part of what I built.
After your mother died, I created a second holding trust that owns controlling interests in several companies, including debt tied to Walker Development.
Do not reveal the trust unless necessary.
Its existence protects you.
My heartbeat pounded.
Daniel read over my shoulder.
I continued.
Marcus Reed knows part of this.
Margaret Walker suspects more.
Robert Walker knows enough to be dangerous.
Charles Walker knows almost nothing.
If Marcus or Margaret learn the trust is yours, they will try to reach you personally.
My hand stopped.
They had.
Ethan had.
Was our relationship part of the plan from the beginning?
I kept reading.
One more thing.
If you ever become involved with a Walker, do not assume it is coincidence.
My eyes filled.
Dad had written that four years ago.
He knew.
Somehow, he knew.
I turned the page.
There was one final paragraph.
I am leaving copies of the evidence with someone I trust more than any executive at Hawthorne.
If I die unexpectedly, find Emily Carter.
I looked at Richard.
“Emily.”
He was already reaching for his phone.
The storage facility lights suddenly went out.
Everything became black.
One security officer cursed.
The other drew a flashlight.
“Stay behind me.”
A crash sounded outside the unit.
Then footsteps.
Running.
Richard whispered, “Someone’s here.”
The emergency lights flickered on.
A shadow crossed the end of the hallway.
The security officer shouted.
“Stop!”
The person ran.
One guard chased them.
The other stayed with us.
Then smoke began pouring from a unit three doors away.
“Fire!”
An alarm screamed.
Daniel grabbed the documents.
“Out. Now.”
I grabbed the flash drives and my father’s letter.
We ran.
Smoke thickened in seconds.
Someone had started the fire deliberately.
As we reached the exit, a masked figure appeared behind the glass door.
For half a second, our eyes met.
Then the figure turned.
I saw a woman’s coat.
Dark blue.
Silver buttons.
I had seen that coat before.
Margaret wore it at my rehearsal dinner.
“Margaret!”
The figure ran toward a waiting SUV.
Our security officer chased her.
The SUV sped away before he reached it.
I stood in the parking lot coughing.
Daniel stared at me.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
My phone rang.
Ethan.
I answered.
“Claire, I found Mom’s driver.”
I watched the SUV disappear.
“Too late.”
“What?”
“She was here.”
Silence.
“Where?”
“The storage facility.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I saw her.”
“Claire…”
Then Ethan said something that made my skin crawl.
“My mother’s at home.”
I froze.
“What?”
“I’m looking at her right now.”
I could hear Margaret’s voice in the background.
“Ethan, who are you talking to?”
I stared at the road where the SUV had vanished.
The woman I had seen had Margaret’s coat.
Margaret’s build.
Margaret’s hair.
But if Margaret was truly at home, then someone else had known exactly what I would recognize.
And wanted me to believe Margaret had tried to burn my father’s evidence.
Daniel asked, “What is it?”
I lowered the phone.
“That wasn’t Margaret.”
Before he could answer, Richard looked at one of the flash drives we had rescued.
A label was taped across it.
One name.
EMILY.
Then my phone buzzed with a new message from an unknown number.
You found the safe.
Good.
May you like
Now find me before they do.
—Emily
