Chapter 6 - THE FAMILY SECRET
Someone screamed.
A car engine roared.
Agent Reyes shouted, “Nobody move!”
Emergency lights flickered on.
Andrew was gone.
The black SUV shot toward the exit ramp.
Agent Collins ran after it.
Daniel shouted into his radio.
“Lock the garage!”
A steel barrier began lowering.
The SUV accelerated.
It smashed through the barrier and disappeared into the rain.
I stood frozen.
Miriam grabbed my shoulders.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
Because Andrew’s last words were still ringing in my head.
Someone in your family gave him permission.
Upstairs, the wedding guests were beginning to arrive.
Florists rolled in white roses.
Caterers carried trays.
Musicians unloaded instruments.
My wedding was still being assembled while my fiancé’s financial fraud was unraveling underneath it.
I returned to the private suite.
Gavin was waiting.
He looked calmer now.
Too calm.
“You saw Andrew?”
I stopped.
“How did you know?”
He smiled.
“Because I knew he’d panic.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I sat across from him.
“Who in my family helped you?”
Gavin leaned back.
“Cancel everything.”
“What?”
“Call off the investigators.”
“No.”
“Stop the conversion.”
“No.”
“Then I have nothing to say.”
I stared at him.
“You think you still have leverage?”
“I know I do.”
The door opened.
My aunt Victoria walked in.
My father’s older sister.
Chairwoman of the Hart trust.
The woman who had practically raised me after my parents died.
She looked at Gavin.
Then at me.
“What have you done?”
For one foolish second, I thought she meant him.
Then I saw her eyes.
They were on me.
“I discovered fraud.”
“You created a disaster.”
I stared.
“Excuse me?”
She shut the door.
“This wedding was supposed to stabilize MercerArc.”
Gavin smiled faintly.
My stomach dropped.
“Aunt Victoria.”
She avoided my eyes.
“What did you do?”
Her voice hardened.
“I protected the family.”
“How?”
“Gavin needed guarantees.”
I stopped breathing.
Miriam stepped forward.
“You authorized forged signatures?”
Victoria snapped, “I authorized emergency measures.”
I almost couldn’t process it.
“You forged my name.”
“No.”
“You let him.”
“I kept a company alive that carries Hart Capital’s money.”
“You used me.”
Victoria looked annoyed.
“This isn’t about your feelings.”
That sentence hurt more than I expected.
I had heard it my entire life.
After my mother died.
After my father died.
After every decision made “for the family.”
I stood.
“You knew about Tessa?”
Victoria hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“You knew.”
“It was irrelevant.”
I stared at her.
“My fiancé was cheating on me.”
“And you were marrying him for strategic stability.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You think families like ours marry only for romance?”
Gavin watched us silently.
I suddenly understood why he had been so confident.
He hadn’t believed marrying me gave him power.
Someone had promised him it would.
Victoria had.
I stepped closer to her.
“You told him I would sign after the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“And when I refused?”
“We would handle it.”
I laughed softly.
“You mean forge it.”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“Olivia, stop being childish.”
I looked at Miriam.
“Can the trust remove its chairwoman?”
Victoria’s face changed.
Miriam nodded slowly.
“With sufficient cause.”
I turned back to my aunt.
“Good.”
Her eyes widened.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
My phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
It contained one photograph.
Andrew standing beside a highway.
His face covered in blood.
May you like
Below it was one sentence.
STOP THE BOARD VOTE OR HE DOESN’T MAKE IT HOME.
