Chapter 7 - THE PRICE OF SILENCE
I showed the message to Agent Reyes.
Within minutes, the hotel became a command center.
Security footage was pulled.
Traffic cameras were requested.
Phones were traced.
My aunt kept insisting it had nothing to do with her.
Gavin said nothing.
That bothered me most.
I walked into the room where he was being held by hotel security.
He looked up.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“Andrew has been taken.”
His eyes flickered.
Only once.
But I saw it.
“You knew this could happen.”
Gavin stood.
“I warned Andrew not to panic.”
“Who has him?”
“I don’t know.”
I moved closer.
“Gavin.”
His voice dropped.
“You should stop the vote.”
“No.”
“Then Andrew could die.”
I stared at him.
“You’re threatening me?”
“I’m telling you reality.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
The sound echoed.
He slowly turned his face back toward me.
“You always were more like your father than Victoria realized.”
My pulse stopped.
“What did you say?”
He smiled.
“Your father asked too many questions too.”
My blood ran cold.
“My father died in a boating accident.”
Gavin said nothing.
“Gavin.”
He looked toward the security camera.
Then back at me.
“Ask Victoria.”
I ran.
My aunt was in the bridal suite arguing with Miriam.
I stormed inside.
“Was my father’s death an accident?”
Victoria froze.
That was enough.
“Oh my God.”
She shook her head.
“Olivia.”
“What happened?”
“It was an accident.”
“Then why did you hesitate?”
Miriam stared at her.
Victoria’s face tightened.
“Your father discovered irregularities in Hart Capital.”
“What irregularities?”
“He accused several executives of moving money through offshore accounts.”
The same pattern.
My knees nearly gave out.
“How long ago?”
“Seven years.”
“And then he died.”
Victoria looked away.
Miriam whispered, “Victoria…”
My aunt snapped, “I had nothing to do with his death.”
“But you covered up what he found.”
Silence.
I understood.
“You buried it.”
“I protected the company.”
“You always say that.”
I stepped closer.
“You protected the company.”
“You protected the family.”
“You protected the name.”
“But you never protected us.”
Her face cracked.
For one second, I saw guilt.
Then she whispered, “Your father left something.”
I stared.
“What?”
“A file.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
She looked suddenly terrified.
“He told me if anything happened to him, Olivia would eventually find the truth.”
My throat tightened.
“He left it for me?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Victoria shook her head.
“He only said one thing.”
“What?”
Her eyes met mine.
“Find the room that doesn’t exist.”
I stopped breathing.
Ashborne House had been built by my grandfather.
Hundreds of rooms.
Service tunnels.
Private suites.
Hidden storage areas.
Then I remembered something from childhood.
My father once took me through an old corridor behind the ballroom.
He had laughed when I asked where it went.
“Somewhere the blueprints forgot.”
I ran downstairs.
Behind the ballroom.
Past the linen storage.
I found the old paneled wall.
Daniel joined me.
We pushed against it.
Nothing.
Then I noticed a tiny brass mark shaped like an H.
I pressed it.
The wall clicked open.
May you like
Inside was a dark narrow room.
And sitting on a desk beneath years of dust was a box with my name on it.
