Chapter 12 - The Secret Astrid Took to the Graveyard
Conrad Voss confessed to killing Harrison within twenty-four hours.
He did not confess to killing Elena.
He blamed Vale.
Vale blamed Conrad.
Both men blamed each other for everything that happened afterward.
Federal prosecutors didn't care.
They had financial records.
Recorded admissions.
The ledger.
Adrian's testimony.
And eventually, the truck driver who had crossed the median three years earlier.
He had been paid through a company connected to Conrad.
Elena's death was no longer officially an accident.
It was murder.
For Lachlan, that brought no relief.
Only confirmation.
Thea found him in the estate chapel two nights later.
He sat in the back row.
No dark glasses.
The building was small, older than the mansion.
Elena's photograph rested near a memorial candle.
Thea sat beside him.
“Couldn't sleep?”
“No.”
“Me either.”
For a while, they said nothing.
Then Lachlan whispered, “I spent three years thinking if I solved it, something would change.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
“Maybe change takes longer than an arrest.”
He looked at her.
“When did you become wise?”
“I watched daytime television in hospital waiting rooms.”
“Of course.”
She smiled.
Then became serious.
“You saved Sophie.”
“Emil saved Sophie.”
“You both did.”
“He lied to me.”
“He was protecting his son.”
“He could have told me.”
Thea gave him a look.
“What?”
“You have absolutely no right to be offended by other people's secret-keeping.”
He sighed.
“Fair.”
Emil had been cleared of involvement in Elena's murder.
He had known about her investigation but had spent years quietly collecting information.
When Conrad threatened Emil's estranged son, Emil cooperated with the kidnapping long enough to keep Sophie alive.
He had also secretly activated the factory's emergency transmitter.
Without it, federal agents might never have located the precise building.
Sophie had forgiven him before anyone else.
Children sometimes understood fear better than adults.
Thea leaned against the pew.
“What about the unidentified message?”
“Still tracing.”
“Julian?”
“Possible.”
“You think he sent it.”
“I don't know what I think anymore.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Certainty caused half this family's problems.”
He considered that.
Then his phone buzzed.
Astrid.
CEMETERY. 8 A.M. TOMORROW. COME WITH THEA.
Thea read it.
“That sounds cheerful.”
“With Astrid, that's practically an invitation to brunch.”
They went.
Rain had begun before dawn.
Astrid waited beneath a black umbrella beside Harrison and Elena's graves.
She wore no pearls.
No tailored suit.
Just a dark coat.
Sophie remained at home.
This conversation, Astrid had said, was not for her.
“I owe you both one final truth,” she began.
Lachlan's face hardened.
“I'm running out of patience with that sentence.”
“So am I.”
Astrid looked at Harrison's grave.
“Your grandfather discovered Conrad murdered your father.”
“We know.”
“You don't know what I did.”
Lachlan waited.
“I helped him hide it.”
Thea's breath caught.
Astrid did not look away.
“I convinced the physician to sign the false death certificate.”
Lachlan stepped back.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
Rain struck the umbrella.
Astrid's voice trembled.
“Conrad was my son too.”
Lachlan stared.
“You chose him.”
“I chose the illusion that I could keep one son after losing the other.”
“You let a murderer remain free.”
“Yes.”
“And Elena died because of it.”
Astrid closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Lachlan turned away.
Thea wanted to reach for him.
She didn't.
This grief belonged to him first.
Astrid continued.
“August wanted to send Conrad away permanently. Not to prison. Overseas. Money. A new life.”
“Of course.”
“Your grandfather believed exile was punishment.”
“It was protection.”
“Yes.”
“Did Conrad know you helped?”
“Yes.”
“So he knew he could get away with anything.”
Astrid began crying.
Thea had never imagined Astrid Voss crying.
“I thought I had saved my family.”
Lachlan turned.
“You saved the name.”
“Yes.”
“You protected the company.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
Astrid looked toward Elena's stone.
“Now I understand there was never a company worth her life.”
Lachlan said nothing.
Astrid reached into her coat.
A sealed document.
“What is that?”
“My resignation.”
“From the foundation?”
“From everything.”
She held it toward him.
“I am surrendering voting control.”
Lachlan didn't take it.
“Why?”
“Because people like me should stop confusing ownership with moral authority.”
Thea looked at her.
That sentence had probably taken eighty years to learn.
Lachlan finally accepted the paper.
“Will you testify?”
“Yes.”
“Against Conrad?”
“Yes.”
“Publicly?”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“Good.”
Astrid nodded.
She turned to leave.
Then stopped beside Thea.
“I owe you an apology.”
“You already apologized.”
“Not properly.”
Astrid looked at her.
“I approached you because your desperation made you easy to negotiate with.”
Thea appreciated the brutal accuracy.
“I told myself I was saving your mother.”
“You did.”
“I also used her illness to obtain what I wanted.”
“Yes.”
“I am sorry.”
Thea was quiet.
Forgiveness wasn't automatic because someone asked.
But neither was resentment useful forever.
“I don't forgive you yet.”
Astrid nodded.
“Fair.”
“But maybe someday.”
A faint smile.
“That is more than I deserve.”
She walked away.
Lachlan remained between the graves.
Thea stood beside him.
“My father was murdered,” he said.
“Yes.”
“My grandfather concealed it.”
“Yes.”
“My grandmother helped.”
“Yes.”
“My uncle murdered Elena.”
“Yes.”
“My cousin took money.”
“Apparently.”
“My CFO helped all of them.”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“And you married into this.”
“Worst dating decision imaginable.”
A laugh escaped him.
It came out broken.
Then became something else.
He covered his face.
Thea wrapped her arms around him.
Lachlan held her.
Rain fell around them.
There were no cameras.
No board.
No contract.
No pretending.
Only grief.
When he finally lifted his head, they were inches apart.
Thea's heart accelerated.
His eyes moved to her mouth.
Then back to her eyes.
“Can I kiss you?”
The question mattered.
Because he could have assumed.
Because technically she was his wife.
Because nothing in their marriage had started with genuine choice.
Thea whispered, “Not here.”
He nodded immediately.
No disappointment.
No pressure.
That made her want to kiss him more.
She took his hand instead.
They walked back toward the car.
Marcus waited near the gate.
His expression was strange.
“What?”
“We identified the sender of Conrad's message.”
Lachlan stopped.
“Who?”
Marcus handed him the report.
The phone number belonged to a corporate device.
Assigned to—
Julian Voss.
Thea's stomach dropped.
Lachlan stared at the page.
His cousin had warned Conrad.
Told him to silence Vale.
Authorized taking Sophie if necessary.
And Julian was still walking free.
Because when investigators reached his apartment that morning, he was gone.
On his desk they found one plane ticket.
Destination:
Zurich.
Departure:
Ninety minutes.
Thea looked at Lachlan.
“Can they stop him?”
“They're trying.”
Lachlan called federal investigators.
The call lasted less than a minute.
He lowered the phone.
“What?” Thea asked.
Julian's flight had already left the gate.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The passenger in Julian's seat wasn't Julian.
The ticket had been used by someone else.
Julian Voss had never gone to the airport.
He was still somewhere in the city.
And three minutes later, Thea received a text.
From her mother's phone.
COME TO SYCAMORE STREET ALONE IF YOU WANT MARIANNE TO STAY ALIVE.
Thea stared.
Her mother had been discharged that morning.
She was supposed to be recovering at home.
Julian had found the one person Thea would risk anything to save.
And this time, he wasn't threatening a billionaire.
May you like
He was threatening the girl who had nothing left to bargain with.
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