Chapter 10 - THE SECRET GIDEON NEVER TOLD ME
I turned toward Gideon.
He looked angry.
But not surprised.
That was enough.
“You knew.”
“Not what Parker is implying.”
“But you know something.”
“Yes.”
I stepped away.
My mother was safe.
Parker was under arrest.
For the first time in weeks, I could have felt relief.
Instead, I felt betrayed again.
“Tell me.”
Gideon looked toward the investigators.
“Not here.”
“No.”
My voice sharpened.
“Everyone keeps deciding when I’m allowed to know things about my own life. Tell me now.”
He nodded.
Fair.
Five years earlier, Gideon’s father, Charles Ashford, still controlled Ashford Capital.
The stolen technology had been developed without full regulatory approval.
When Charles learned someone had breached the system, he panicked.
“He ordered the prototype lab dismantled,” Gideon said.
“Meaning?”
“All servers, drives, and research were supposed to be destroyed legally.”
“Legally.”
“Yes.”
“Did your father order the building burned?”
Gideon’s face tightened.
“I found an email six weeks ago suggesting he discussed it.”
My stomach dropped.
“With Parker?”
“No. With Preston.”
I stared.
Gideon handed me his phone.
The recovered email was short.
If the data cannot be secured, the site cannot remain. Handle it before the audit.
Sent from Charles Ashford.
To Preston.
Three days before the fire.
I felt sick.
“You’ve known for six weeks?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me when you showed me the first file?”
“Because I didn’t know whether the email referred to destruction of data or the building.”
“You decided I couldn’t handle ambiguity?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Gideon looked genuinely ashamed.
“I wanted to be certain my father wasn’t responsible before I put that possibility in front of you.”
I laughed without humor.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“Protection through omission.”
He absorbed that.
“You’re right.”
I had expected defense.
He gave me none.
That made staying angry harder.
But not impossible.
“What did Charles say?”
“He died two years ago.”
Conveniently, every awful secret in my life seemed to involve dead men.
Gideon continued.
“I’ve been investigating him too.”
Records showed Charles authorized a payment to Barrett Development the day before the fire.
Two million dollars.
Preston’s company received it.
Then half moved to an account controlled by Parker.
“Did Preston know Parker planned the fire?”
“We need to ask him.”
We did.
Preston looked destroyed when Naomi showed him the email.
“My agreement with Charles was to destroy the servers.”
“Not the building?” I asked.
“No.”
“Why pay Parker?”
“I didn’t.”
“Money left your company.”
“Parker controlled finance.”
I wanted not to believe him.
The evidence supported him.
Preston had been corrupt.
Cruel.
Unfaithful.
But perhaps not an arsonist.
Then Naomi produced another message recovered from Parker’s phone.
It was five years old.
From Charles Ashford.
Directly to Parker.
Make certain nothing survives.
Gideon closed his eyes.
His father had ordered the destruction.
But Parker replied:
Including Barrett and wife?
Charles answered only once.
I said nothing.
Ambiguous.
Cowardly.
Possibly deliberate.
Then another message appeared.
From a third number.
Yes. Both. No witnesses.
The sender had never been identified.
Until now.
Naomi traced the number to a corporate account.
Registered to:
May you like
Cassidy Vaughn.
Cassidy had been involved five years before she supposedly met any of us.
