Chương 9 - The Enemy Who Underestimated HerI told Larkin.
Not because Adrian asked me not to.
Because anyone who tells you to hide something from the person standing next to you is trying to control the board.
I was done being a piece on someone else’s board.
“He wants me alone.”
“You’re not going.”
“I am.”
“No.”
I looked at Larkin.
“Was that an order?”
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
Thomas coughed to hide a laugh.
Larkin stared at me.
I continued.
“We need Adrian. If he’s co-trustee, he can stop the transfer.”
“He could also be causing it.”
“Then I need to know.”
“You’re not walking into a trap.”
“I spent three years walking into this office every morning.”
Thomas laughed openly.
Larkin ignored him.
Finally, we compromised.
I would go.
Larkin’s team would remain nearby.
No visible weapons.
No dramatic rescue unless necessary.
The address was an old restaurant in Brooklyn Heights.
Closed.
Dark windows.
I entered alone.
Adrian sat at a table beneath a single hanging light.
He looked older than at the gala.
More tired.
“Sit.”
“I prefer standing.”
He almost smiled.
“You are Daniel’s daughter.”
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“Well enough to owe him my life.”
That wasn’t what I expected.
He pushed a folder across the table.
Inside were photographs.
My father.
Adrian.
Robert Steves.
Gregory.
Evelyn.
Meetings.
Warehouses.
Banks.
“You were part of Meridian.”
“I was.”
“My father said to listen before judging you.”
“I’m glad he wrote that.”
“Why are you draining the trust?”
“I’m not.”
“Someone used your override.”
“Someone cloned it.”
“Who?”
“I believe Thomas.”
I laughed once.
“Convenient.”
“You trust him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He slid another document toward me.
Thomas’s signature.
A recent authorization to access dormant trust structures.
My stomach tightened.
“Where did you get this?”
“His attorney.”
“Evelyn?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Adrian leaned back.
“Thomas has his own legal team.”
Of course he did.
“What does he want?”
“The money.”
“That’s obvious.”
“No. It isn’t.”
He leaned forward.
“Thomas doesn’t need three hundred million dollars.”
“Then what?”
“The ledger.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because the second ledger proves something about his father.”
“That Gregory stole money?”
Adrian shook his head.
“That Gregory was not Thomas’s father.”
I stared.
“What?”
Adrian placed a photograph on the table.
Thomas’s mother.
Robert Steves.
Together.
Far too together.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Thomas is Larkin’s half-brother.”
“Biologically.”
My mind raced.
That meant inheritance.
Power.
Succession.
Thomas wasn’t simply a cousin.
If proven, he had a claim to everything Robert built.
“Does Thomas know?”
“I think he recently found out.”
“And Larkin?”
“No.”
I looked toward the dark window.
Larkin was somewhere outside.
Waiting.
Adrian continued.
“Your father knew.”
“Of course he did.”
“He believed Robert used the secret to control Gregory.”
“Why?”
“Gregory raised Thomas as his son. Robert kept Thomas close as insurance.”
I felt sick.
This family had turned blood into leverage.
“What happened to my father?”
Adrian looked down.
“Daniel found evidence Gregory planned to expose Robert.”
“And?”
“Robert ordered the evidence destroyed.”
“My father too?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I expect you to believe I tried to get Daniel out.”
I said nothing.
“The night he died, he called me.”
My chest tightened.
“He wanted to meet.”
“Where?”
“Warehouse district.”
“And?”
“I was late.”
“How late?”
“Eleven minutes.”
His voice broke slightly.
“The car was already burning.”
I stopped breathing.
The police told us my father’s car had crashed.
No one ever mentioned fire.
“Why didn’t you tell my mother?”
“Because Robert threatened you.”
Me.
Of course.
The invisible girl had always been the leverage.
“I spent years watching from a distance,” Adrian said.
“Why stop now?”
“Because Thomas started searching.”
“For the ledger?”
“For you.”
My skin went cold.
“What?”
“He discovered Daniel had a daughter.”
“How?”
“Old legal records.”
“He knew before the gala?”
“Yes.”
I remembered his jokes.
His attention.
His strange fixation.
Maybe I had never been random entertainment.
Maybe the invitation was a test.
Adrian’s phone vibrated.
He looked at it.
Then at me.
“We have to leave.”
“Why?”
“Someone found us.”
A crash came from the kitchen.
Lights went out.
My pulse spiked.
Adrian grabbed my wrist.
Back door.
We moved through darkness.
Outside, engines roared.
Black vehicles entered the alley.
I expected Larkin.
Instead, Thomas stepped from the first car.
He looked at me.
Then Adrian.
Then smiled.
“Penelope.”
His voice echoed between the buildings.
“You really should have stayed invisible.”
And behind him were men I had never seen before.
May you like
Not Larkin’s men.
His own.
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