Chapter 7 - THE BILLION-DOLLAR SECRET
I did not remember leaving Vale Meridian headquarters.
One moment Marcus was telling me Adrian’s missing phone had appeared near my home.
The next I was inside an SUV moving through midnight traffic with Adrian beside me.
“My mother is there.”
“I know.”
“Toby.”
“I know.”
Marcus drove.
Julian followed in another vehicle.
Police had already been notified.
Still, every red light felt like betrayal.
When we reached my street, two patrol cars blocked the entrance.
My mother stood on the sidewalk in slippers and a robe.
Toby was beside her.
I jumped from the SUV.
“Maya?”
Mom grabbed me.
“What is happening?”
“Are you okay?”
“We’re fine.”
Toby looked past me.
Adrian climbed out.
Mom stared at him.
“That’s your patient?”
“Long story.”
Police found the missing phone beneath our mailbox.
No fingerprints.
No message.
Nothing except one photograph saved to the screen.
A picture of our house taken less than an hour earlier.
The warning was obvious.
We know where she lives.
Adrian stared at the image.
Then at me.
“You’re leaving.”
“What?”
“You and your family need somewhere secure.”
“This is my home.”
“Someone targeted you because of me.”
“I’m not abandoning my house.”
“Maya.”
“Don’t billionaire-order me.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Then his voice softened.
“Please.”
That stopped me.
Not because he was rich.
Because he was afraid.
For us.
Mom and Toby agreed to spend several nights at a hotel under security.
I refused until Marcus explained that whoever was threatening Adrian wanted leverage.
That word made the decision for me.
Leverage.
My family would not become leverage.
The following morning, Adrian was officially discharged.
Against medical advice, according to one irritated physician.
He refused to return to his main residence.
Instead we all went to a smaller Vale property outside the city.
That was where Celeste found us.
She entered furious.
“You disappeared from the hospital.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Someone put my stolen phone outside Maya’s house.”
Celeste stopped.
“What?”
Her reaction looked genuine.
Julian did not believe it.
“You seem surprised.”
“I am.”
“You know where Adrian was going the night he crashed?”
“No.”
“He was meeting Eleanor Price.”
Celeste’s face lost color.
Adrian noticed.
“You said you barely knew her.”
“I know of her.”
“That isn’t what you said.”
“Adrian—”
“Why are you lying?”
She looked around the room.
At Daniel.
At Julian.
At me.
Finally she said, “Because Eleanor contacted me three months ago.”
Silence.
“What did she want?” Adrian asked.
“She wanted me to convince you to stop investigating your father.”
“Why?”
“She said it was dangerous.”
“Did you tell me?”
“Yes.”
“Did I listen?”
“No.”
That sounded like him.
Celeste sat down.
“Adrian, two weeks before the crash, you changed.”
“How?”
“You stopped sleeping. You canceled the wedding venue meeting. You moved documents out of your office.”
“Why?”
“You believed someone had been siphoning money from Vale Meridian for years.”
Julian stiffened.
“What money?”
“Hundreds of millions.”
Daniel looked alarmed.
“From where?”
“Subsidiaries. Trusts. Foundation accounts.”
Adrian touched his temple.
A flash of pain crossed his face.
“Milan.”
Everyone looked at him.
“What?” I asked.
“Milan.”
A memory.
He closed his eyes.
“I was in a hotel.”
“Recently?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who was there?”
“Celeste.”
Her expression changed.
“And someone else.”
Adrian pressed both hands against his head.
“Don’t force it,” I said.
But he did.
“A man.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Who?”
Adrian opened his eyes.
“I can’t see his face.”
Celeste whispered, “Adrian.”
He looked at her.
“You were crying.”
She froze.
“You told me I was making a mistake.”
Her eyes filled.
“That happened.”
“What mistake?”
She did not answer.
“Celeste.”
“I begged you to stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Trying to give Eleanor the company.”
Adrian stared.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you opposed it.”
“I thought you were destroying your life because of your father’s guilt.”
“That money wasn’t his.”
“You didn’t steal it.”
“That doesn’t make it mine.”
Celeste stood.
“You were going to give away billions of dollars.”
“Return.”
“What?”
“Return billions.”
“You don’t remember anything.”
“I remember enough to know there’s a difference.”
She looked at me then.
The hatred was unmistakable.
“You think this is noble because you have nothing.”
“Maya has nothing to do with this,” Adrian said.
“She has everything to do with this.”
Celeste turned on him.
“You look at her like she’s the first honest person you’ve ever met.”
No one spoke.
Because the accusation landed too close to something neither Adrian nor I wanted named.
Celeste grabbed her purse.
Before she left, she looked at Adrian.
“You want to know why you were driving alone that night?”
He went still.
“You fired Marcus.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“You told every security officer to stay away.”
“Why?”
“Because the person you were meeting said they would only appear if you came alone.”
“Eleanor?”
Celeste shook her head.
“No.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Then who?”
She opened the door.
May you like
“Your father’s killer.”
And then she walked out.
