Chapter 8 - THE DEAD WOMAN'S NAME
Adrian stared at Elena as if she had spoken another language.
"My mother died fourteen years ago."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
"Don't do this."
"I know who I saw."
"Margaret Vale died in a car accident."
"No body was ever shown to the family."
Adrian stood abruptly.
"Enough."
Evelyn reached for him.
He stepped away.
"My mother is dead."
Elena disappeared into another room.
She returned with an old photograph.
She placed it on the table.
Adrian stared at it.
A woman stood beside Richard at a charity event.
Older than Adrian remembered.
Different hair.
But unmistakable.
Margaret Vale.
The photograph was dated eighteen months earlier.
Adrian sat down.
"Why?"
Elena looked at him with sympathy.
"Richard told everyone she died."
"Why would my father do that?"
"Because she discovered what he was doing."
Evelyn looked at the picture.
"Where is she now?"
"I don't know."
"What happened after she entered my father's office?"
Elena swallowed.
"She tried to help Charles."
"Then why didn't she call police?"
"Because Richard had spent fourteen years controlling her."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"Explain."
Elena told them Margaret had attempted to expose Richard's financial crimes years earlier.
Richard responded by having her declared unstable.
He used private doctors.
Lawyers.
A sealed treatment facility.
Then he told Adrian his mother had died.
"She escaped," Elena said.
"When?"
"Two years ago."
"Why didn't she contact me?"
"She tried."
Adrian looked up.
"What?"
"Richard intercepted everything."
Evelyn suddenly remembered Charles's video.
Someone in my family is helping him.
"What does Margaret have to do with Carrington?"
Elena hesitated.
"Everything."
She opened a small safe.
Inside was another envelope.
Charles Carrington's handwriting was across the front.
ADRIAN.
Elena handed it to him.
Adrian opened it.
The letter was short.
Margaret Vale discovered the original fraud fourteen years ago.
The money Richard used to build Vale Capital came from Carrington accounts.
Your mother tried to return it.
Richard destroyed her life to stop her.
Adrian lowered the paper.
"My entire family fortune..."
"Started with stolen money," Evelyn finished.
Elena nodded.
Noah looked sick.
"How much?"
"Initially?"
Elena answered.
"Forty-two million."
Adrian laughed bitterly.
"Vale Capital is worth six billion today."
"Which means Richard could lose everything if the original fraud is proven."
Evelyn finally understood.
"That's why he needed Carrington Global."
Martin nodded.
"A merger would bury the old transactions."
"And my voting shares would give Adrian control."
Adrian looked at her.
"I didn't know."
"I believe you."
It was the first kind thing she had said to him since the wedding collapsed.
Then a vehicle stopped outside.
Elena froze.
Nobody moved.
A car door closed.
Then another.
Noah looked through the curtain.
"Black SUV."
May you like
Elena turned white.
"They found us."
