Chapter 6
Abigail did not tell Julian about Lorraine.
Not immediately.
She told herself she had a reason.
Lorraine had specifically warned her not to bring him.
Julian had already admitted he had spent years testing people.
His family had built an empire around secrecy.
Trusting him completely after two days would have been foolish.
Still, Abigail felt guilty when he handed her coffee and asked whether she was all right.
“I’m fine.”
He studied her.
“You’re lying.”
She almost laughed.
“That’s interesting coming from you.”
“I’ve been trying to stop.”
“Keep practicing.”
Daniel remained sedated after surgery.
Ethan stayed with him.
At nine the next morning, Abigail left the hospital.
Julian was on a call near the nurses’ station.
He noticed her.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
She hated how easily the lie came.
“Do you need a ride?”
“No.”
“Security should—”
“No security.”
“After the note?”
“I’m going home, Julian.”
He frowned.
But he nodded.
“Call if anything happens.”
Abigail walked away with her stomach tight.
At 9:55, she entered Riverside Café.
Lorraine Parker was already there.
Late fifties.
Short brown hair.
Nervous eyes.
She sat in the corner with both hands wrapped around a cup she had not touched.
“Abigail?”
“Yes.”
Lorraine stood.
For a second, she simply stared at her.
“You look like your mother.”
The words pierced Abigail.
“You knew her?”
“A little.”
They sat.
Abigail wasted no time.
“You said Vivian Cross was behind the missing money.”
Lorraine looked around.
“I said she was involved.”
“You said she was the person behind it.”
“I panicked.”
“Then tell me what actually happened.”
Lorraine reached into her purse.
She pulled out an old photograph.
Four people stood outside a Cross Global office.
Daniel Hayes.
Lorraine.
Richard Cross.
And Vivian Cross.
On the back was a handwritten date from twenty-one years ago.
“Your father worked directly with Richard’s executive audit committee,” Lorraine said. “I was junior accounting staff.”
“What did he find?”
“Money moving through Arcadia.”
“We know that.”
“No. You know part of it.”
Lorraine leaned forward.
“Arcadia was not just theft.”
“What was it?”
“A hidden fund.”
“For what?”
“Settlements.”
Abigail frowned.
“What kind?”
“Problems the Cross family wanted to disappear.”
Employees injured at unsafe properties.
Women who accused executives of harassment.
Vendors paid to keep quiet about defective materials.
Private investigators.
Confidential settlements.
Political favors.
Millions passed through shell companies so the payments would never appear connected to Cross Global.
Abigail felt sick.
“Who created it?”
“Richard.”
“Then why did you say Vivian?”
“Because eventually Vivian began using it too.”
“For what?”
Lorraine’s eyes filled.
“To protect Julian.”
Abigail went still.
“From what?”
“I don’t know the full story.”
“You keep giving me pieces.”
“Pieces are all I have.”
Lorraine took a shaky breath.
“There was an accident when Julian was seventeen.”
Abigail remembered nothing about it.
“A girl was hurt.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“Was Julian driving?”
“I think so.”
Abigail stared.
Lorraine continued.
“The police report disappeared. The girl’s family received a large payment through Arcadia. Vivian personally authorized it.”
“So she covered up an accident.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t explain my father.”
“Daniel found the payment.”
“And?”
“He believed the fund was illegal. He was right.”
Lorraine looked toward the window.
“He confronted Richard. Richard ordered him to stop. Daniel refused.”
“Then he was framed.”
“Yes.”
“By Vivian?”
“I don’t know.”
“But yesterday you said—”
“I know she begged Richard to make the investigation disappear.”
Abigail’s face hardened.
“To protect Julian.”
“Yes.”
“So my father was sacrificed to protect him.”
Lorraine looked miserable.
“That’s what I believed.”
Abigail stood.
She suddenly could not sit there.
Everything had shifted again.
Julian had paid for Daniel’s surgery.
He had reopened records.
He had promised to expose the truth.
But what if the truth destroyed him too?
What if the entire scandal began because of something Julian had done?
“Where is the proof?”
Lorraine reached into her purse again.
This time she handed Abigail a key.
Small.
Silver.
A bank deposit key.
“Your mother gave me this after the accident.”
Abigail stared at it.
“Why?”
“She told me if anything happened to her, I should keep it until you were old enough.”
“I’m thirty-one.”
“I know.”
Anger surged.
“You had this for years?”
“I was scared.”
“My father lost everything.”
“I know.”
“My mother suffered for years.”
“I know.”
“And you were scared?”
Lorraine started crying.
“Yes.”
Abigail looked away.
She understood fear.
That made it harder to hate her.
But not easier to forgive her.
“What does it open?”
“Safe-deposit box. First National Bank. Downtown branch.”
“Whose name?”
“Your mother’s.”
Abigail closed her fingers around the key.
“Why give it to me now?”
“Because Adrian called me yesterday.”
Her heart jumped.
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether anyone had contacted me about Daniel Hayes.”
“Did you tell him about this meeting?”
“No.”
“Does he know about the key?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then why is he afraid?”
Lorraine whispered, “Because Adrian didn’t create the fund.”
Abigail waited.
“He managed it.”
The distinction mattered.
Richard created it.
Vivian used it.
Adrian managed it.
They were all involved.
Maybe in different ways.
But involved.
A shadow appeared outside the café window.
Lorraine saw it first.
Her face changed.
“Oh no.”
Abigail turned.
The same man from the hospital stood across the street.
Raymond Cole.
Watching them.
“Is that him?” Lorraine whispered.
Abigail grabbed her phone.
“Yes.”
Raymond turned and walked away.
Abigail ran for the door.
Lorraine caught her wrist.
“Don’t.”
“He’s leaving.”
“Let him.”
“He threatened my father.”
“You don’t know what he’ll do.”
Abigail pulled free.
She stepped outside.
Raymond was already halfway down the block.
“Hey!”
He looked back.
Then ran.
Abigail followed.
She made it twenty yards before a black SUV pulled sharply from an alley.
Brakes screamed.
Someone grabbed Abigail from behind and yanked her backward.
The SUV passed inches from her.
She gasped.
Julian’s voice exploded beside her.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Abigail turned.
He was gripping her shoulders.
Pale with fury.
“How did you—”
“I had security follow you.”
Her shock became anger.
“You what?”
“Because someone threatened you.”
“You followed me?”
“You lied about going home.”
“That does not give you the right—”
“You almost got hit by a car!”
People on the sidewalk were staring.
Abigail shoved his hands away.
“I had it under control.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Stop deciding what I can handle.”
“Stop acting like being angry with me makes you bulletproof.”
She froze.
Julian froze too.
His voice softened.
“That came out wrong.”
“Everything with you comes out wrong.”
Raymond was gone.
So was the SUV.
Lorraine appeared outside the café.
Then she saw Julian.
Her face drained.
“You brought him.”
“I didn’t.”
Julian looked at her.
“Who are you?”
Lorraine stepped backward.
“No.”
“Lorraine Parker,” Abigail said.
Julian’s eyes sharpened.
He knew the name.
“Accounting department. Twenty years ago.”
Lorraine looked terrified.
Julian raised both hands slightly.
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
“You’re Richard Cross’s son.”
“I’m aware.”
“You look like him.”
The comment hit him harder than Abigail expected.
Julian’s face went still.
Lorraine turned to Abigail.
“I have to go.”
“Wait.”
But she hurried away.
Julian looked at Abigail.
“What did she tell you?”
Abigail hesitated.
The key felt heavy in her pocket.
Julian saw the hesitation.
“Abigail.”
“She told me about Arcadia.”
His face changed.
“What about it?”
“That it was a secret settlement fund.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“What else?”
“She said your father created it.”
“That tracks.”
“Your uncle managed it.”
His jaw tightened.
“And my mother?”
Abigail stared at him.
Julian understood before she spoke.
“What did Vivian do?”
“She used it.”
“For what?”
Abigail wished they were anywhere else.
She lowered her voice.
“To cover up an accident.”
His face lost color.
“What accident?”
“When you were seventeen.”
Julian stopped moving.
A strange emptiness came into his eyes.
Abigail saw recognition.
Not confusion.
“You remember.”
He looked toward the street.
“Julian.”
“I remember an accident.”
“Were you driving?”
“Yes.”
The answer was immediate.
“What happened?”
His voice became distant.
“I left a party.”
“Were you drunk?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“I was angry. My father and I had fought.”
“And the girl?”
“Emily Warren.”
The name had clearly never left him.
“She was in the passenger seat.”
“Was she hurt?”
“Yes.”
“How badly?”
“Spinal injury.”
Abigail covered her mouth.
Julian continued.
“I visited her in the hospital. Her parents refused to see me.”
“Did charges disappear?”
He looked at her.
“I was told the police determined I wasn’t responsible.”
“Were you?”
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?”
“Because another car crossed the center line.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“It happened fast. I remember headlights. Glass. Emily screaming.”
For the first time, Abigail saw Julian Cross afraid of his own memory.
“My mother handled everything afterward.”
“Through Arcadia.”
“I never knew that.”
“Lorraine says my father found the payment.”
Julian looked at her.
“And my mother asked Richard to stop him.”
“Yes.”
His eyes closed.
For years, Julian had believed his father destroyed Daniel Hayes because of theft.
Now it was possible Daniel had been destroyed because he threatened to expose a secret built to protect Julian.
“I need to talk to her.”
Abigail touched the key in her pocket.
She almost told him.
Almost.
Then a text appeared on her phone.
Unknown number.
She opened it.
A photograph loaded.
It showed Ethan leaving the hospital.
Taken minutes earlier.
Underneath were six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED THE FIRST TIME.
Abigail’s blood turned cold.
“Julian.”
He saw her face.
“What?”
She handed him the phone.
His expression changed instantly.
All the conflict between them disappeared beneath one shared fear.
Ethan.
Abigail called.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
She ran toward Julian’s car.
He followed.
For the first time, she did not argue when his security team surrounded them.
Because this was no longer about money.
Or old documents.
Or a family scandal.
May you like
Someone had just threatened her brother.
And whoever was watching them knew exactly where he was.
