Chapter 15 - The Truth in the Auction Records
Trent did not get his meeting.
Instead, police arrested him three hours later near the bookstore.
He had waited anyway.
That told Saraphene everything she needed to know.
Some people apologized because they changed.
Others apologized because they wanted another opportunity to control the story.
Trent wanted the latter.
He remained in custody.
Victor remained in federal detention.
Marcus’s cooperation agreement moved forward.
Elias returned east under protection.
For the first time, the crisis seemed to be ending.
Then the Beaumont Gallery called.
A routine audit following the fire had uncovered irregularities in auction records.
Several pieces sold over the previous decade had been purchased through companies appearing in the Halden Ridge ledger.
Money laundering.
The gallery’s owner denied knowledge.
Most transactions predated his ownership.
One name appeared repeatedly as the private acquisitions agent.
Selian Ashford.
Saraphene stared at the report.
“You?”
Selian read it twice.
“I didn't know where the money came from.”
“That sounds dangerously similar to Trent's defense.”
Selian flinched.
“I know.”
Elias sat across the table.
“Selian handled acquisitions for Father before he took over.”
Saraphene looked between them.
“How old were you?”
“Twenty-three. Twenty-four.”
“And you never asked why buyers used shell companies?”
Selian’s expression hardened.
“I knew enough to know I shouldn't ask.”
Saraphene crossed her arms.
“That matters.”
“Yes.”
“Did you break laws?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
Elias intervened.
“Saraphene.”
“No. If this ends with everyone deciding Selian is different because we like him, then nothing changed.”
Selian looked at her for a long time.
Then nodded.
“You're right.”
Elias frowned.
“Selian—”
“No.”
He took the documents.
“I'll contact Ramirez.”
Saraphene stared.
“You might incriminate yourself.”
“I know.”
“You could lose businesses.”
“Yes.”
“Everything you've rebuilt.”
“Possibly.”
“Why?”
Selian’s gaze moved to Elias.
“Because cleaning the family name doesn't mean hiding the dirt that belongs to me.”
Elias looked down.
Saraphene felt something inside her settle.
This was the answer.
Not whether Selian had a past.
Whether he was willing to be accountable for it.
Federal investigators spent weeks examining records.
Selian voluntarily turned over old files.
His attorneys hated it.
He did it anyway.
Several violations fell outside statutes of limitation.
Others were tied to businesses he inherited rather than directed.
One transaction presented a real problem.
A painting purchased with money later connected to extortion.
Selian had signed the paperwork.
He agreed to return the piece and surrender profits.
He also agreed to testify.
News outlets exploded.
ASHFORD EMPIRE LINKED TO HALDEN RIDGE SCANDAL
FORMER UNDERWORLD FIGURE COOPERATES WITH FEDERAL INVESTIGATION
Saraphene hated the photographers outside the estate.
Selian hated them more.
Mrs. Vale enjoyed telling them to move their cars.
Elias slowly rebuilt his memory.
Some days were good.
Some weren't.
He remembered Sophia clearly before he remembered his father.
That seemed like mercy.
One evening, Saraphene found Selian in the library staring at the business card he had given her that first night.
“You still have those?”
“Thousands.”
“You should redesign them.”
“Why?”
“They're threateningly minimal.”
“That was intentional.”
She smiled.
Selian turned the card over.
“You kept yours.”
“How do you know?”
“You used it to call me.”
“I could have thrown it away afterward.”
“Did you?”
Saraphene pulled it from her wallet.
The edges were worn now.
Selian looked unexpectedly moved.
“Sentimental?”
“Evidence.”
“Of?”
“The night my life became significantly more complicated.”
He laughed.
Then became quiet.
“What happens when this is over?”
Saraphene knew what he was asking.
Not the investigation.
Them.
“I don't know.”
Selian nodded.
No pressure.
She studied him.
“What do you want?”
“To ask you something without influencing your answer.”
“That sounds impossible.”
“Probably.”
He approached but stopped at a comfortable distance.
“Stay.”
Saraphene’s heart quickened.
“At the estate?”
“In my life.”
There it was.
No grand declaration.
No promise of forever.
One word.
Stay.
Saraphene looked at the man she had met while hiding behind a restroom door.
The first time he touched her, it had been to help conceal her.
The first time he let her go, he did it immediately.
Since then he had made mistakes.
Serious ones.
He had hidden information.
Tried to decide what risks she could take.
But every time she drew a boundary, he learned.
Trent had treated boundaries as insults.
Selian treated them as instructions.
That difference had become everything.
“I don't want to disappear into your life,” she said.
“I don't want you to.”
“I want my own apartment eventually.”
“Of course.”
“My own work.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody following me without telling me.”
Selian winced.
“Definitely.”
Saraphene stepped closer.
“But I would like to stay.”
His eyes softened.
“For how long?”
She smiled.
“Don't ruin it.”
He kissed her.
Outside, cameras flashed through the gates.
Inside, none of it mattered.
Until Adrian walked into the library holding an auction document.
“You need to see this.”
Selian sighed.
“Your timing is remarkable.”
“So I've been told.”
Adrian placed the record on the table.
One painting sold at the Beaumont auction the night Saraphene met Selian.
Buyer:
E. Ward.
Elias Ward.
The name Elias had used after disappearing.
Selian stared.
“You bought something that night?”
Elias entered behind Adrian.
“Yes.”
Everyone turned.
He smiled.
“I was there.”
Selian stood.
“At Beaumont?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you contact me?”
“My memory had begun returning. I was trying to determine whether you were still involved with Marcus.”
Saraphene stared.
“You saw us?”
Elias nodded.
“Not in the restroom.”
“Good.”
“But afterward.”
He looked at his brother.
“The moment you redirected half the room so Trent couldn't see her.”
Selian looked embarrassed.
Elias smiled.
“That’s when I knew Joseph had been right.”
“About what?”
“That you learned.”
Selian stared at his brother.
Then Elias handed Saraphene another envelope.
“Joseph asked me to give this to you if I ever saw you again.”
Saraphene’s hands trembled.
Her grandfather had been dead for years.
She opened it.
Inside was a letter.
The first line made her cry.
May you like
My brave Sari, if this reaches you, then all my clocks finally kept the right time.
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