Chapter 4 - THE NIGHT I LET HIM LIE TO MY FACE
Adrian came home at 10:43.
I was sitting on our sofa wearing pajamas.
The ruined lemon pastries sat in the trash.
He kissed my forehead.
“Long night.”
I looked at him.
“I bet.”
He smiled.
“Board politics.”
“Did the Vale Harbor deal move forward?”
His expression barely changed.
Barely.
“We’re getting closer.”
“How close?”
“Claudia thinks the board likes us.”
I nodded.
“And the majority shareholder?”
He froze.
Only for a second.
“Still anonymous, apparently.”
I almost admired the performance.
“So you don’t know who controls the vote?”
“No.”
Lie.
He knew enough to forge my signature.
Maybe not that I had inherited the majority interest.
But someone in his circle knew I mattered.
I stood.
“Did you eat?”
“During the meeting.”
“With who?”
His eyes moved toward mine.
“Board members.”
Another lie.
Then he touched my arm.
“Elise, are you okay?”
I wanted to scream.
Instead:
“I miss my father.”
His face softened.
That almost made it worse.
He hugged me.
I let him.
Not because I forgave him.
Because I wanted to know what it felt like to be held by someone who believed I was still easy to deceive.
The next morning, Margaret and I met Julian at Vale Harbor headquarters.
We reviewed six months of internal access logs.
Claudia had downloaded documents connected to my trust more than twenty times.
She had also requested details about the family credit facility before my inheritance transfer was finalized.
Someone had been planning ahead.
Then Margaret found something even stranger.
Three days before Dad died, Claudia met Adrian privately.
At the Vale Harbor Hotel.
Room 3018.
I stared.
“Was Celeste there?”
“No.”
The meeting lasted ninety minutes.
Hotel restaurant charges showed only two guests.
Adrian and Claudia.
“What were they discussing?”
Nobody knew.
Then Julian handed me Dad’s old calendar.
The next morning, my father had written one appointment:
MorganWell audit — urgent.
He never attended.
That afternoon, he collapsed at home.
Heart failure.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
I slowly looked toward Margaret.
“Did Dad have heart problems?”
“Minor arrhythmia. Nothing considered immediately dangerous.”
My stomach tightened.
Margaret’s expression changed too.
“Elise.”
“I know.”
We were both thinking the same thing.
Too many convenient events surrounded my father’s death.
We had no evidence of wrongdoing.
Not yet.
Then Julian received an email from hotel security.
Someone had entered my father’s private office at Vale Harbor headquarters three hours after his funeral.
Badge used:
Claudia Vance.
She remained inside twenty-seven minutes.
May you like
The camera outside showed her leaving with a black leather file.
And walking beside her was Adrian Morgan.
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