Chapter 8 - THE GIRL WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE
Margaret sat inside Nathan’s car for several minutes without speaking.
“I was nineteen.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Why would anyone want you dead?”
“I don’t know.”
But something in her expression suggested a memory had surfaced.
Nathan waited.
Margaret finally said.
“My father had me working in his office during summers.”
“Filing invoices.”
“Copying manifests.”
“One night I found an account that didn’t make sense.”
“What account?”
“Children’s hospitals.”
Nathan frowned.
Margaret shook her head.
“They weren’t hospitals.”
“They were coded shipping routes.”
“For what?”
“I never knew.”
“I asked my father.”
“He became terrified.”
“He told me never to mention the account again.”
Three days later, the warehouse burned.
Nathan looked at the names on Eleanor’s list.
Michael Trent had worked for Whitmore Global for twenty-four years.
Nathan trusted him.
That now meant nothing.
When they returned to the estate, Michael was already waiting.
“You froze my access.”
Nathan closed the office door.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Nathan placed the photograph on the desk.
Michael’s face changed when he saw it.
“Where did you get this?”
“My mother’s grave.”
Michael slowly sat down.
Nathan watched him.
“You have ten seconds before Aaron takes you downstairs.”
Michael looked toward Margaret.
“You activated the trust.”
Margaret stared.
“You knew?”
“Eleanor told me years ago.”
Nathan felt another betrayal.
“How many people knew?”
“Very few.”
“Were you working with Dominic?”
Michael shook his head.
“With Richard?”
“No.”
“Victoria?”
“No.”
Nathan pushed Eleanor’s list toward him.
“Then why did my mother circle your name?”
Michael closed his eyes.
“Because I helped her hide Samuel.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“Where?”
“Different places.”
“Canada.”
“Maine.”
“Eventually Europe.”
“Why didn’t he contact me?”
“Because Victor Rainer believed you had the ledger.”
Margaret whispered.
“I never had it.”
“We know that now.”
“We didn’t know it then.”
Michael looked at Nathan.
“Samuel believed staying dead was the only way to keep Margaret alive.”
Nathan remained skeptical.
“And what did Richard want?”
Michael’s expression darkened.
“Control of the trust.”
“How?”
“Through marriage.”
Margaret laughed in disbelief.
Michael shook his head.
“Not to Richard.”
“To his son.”
Nathan froze.
Richard had one son.
Evan Whitmore.
Nathan’s cousin.
Dead in a car accident twelve years earlier.
Michael continued.
“Richard intended to marry Evan to Margaret.”
“But she disappeared.”
“When she resurfaced years later, Evan was already dead.”
Margaret shook her head.
“This is insane.”
“No.”
Michael’s voice dropped.
“This is inheritance.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“And Victoria?”
Michael hesitated.
Nathan noticed.
“What?”
Michael looked at him.
“Victoria Caldwell’s mother was engaged to Evan before he died.”
Nathan stared.
Suddenly the engagement felt less accidental.
“She came to me because of Richard.”
Michael nodded.
“At first.”
“At first?”
Michael looked toward the door.
“Victoria wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.”
Nathan’s face became unreadable.
Margaret whispered.
“Did she?”
Michael gave a sad smile.
“I think that’s when everything started going wrong.”
A phone rang.
Michael’s.
The screen showed RICHARD WHITMORE.
Nathan answered.
Richard spoke immediately.
“If you want Samuel alive, bring Margaret to Blackstone Crown tonight.”
Nathan’s expression hardened.
“And Victoria?”
Richard paused.
“She’s beginning to understand she chose the wrong side.”
A woman screamed in the background.
Victoria.
Then Richard said.
“Midnight.”
“Margaret comes alone.”
The line ended.
Nathan looked at Margaret.
She shook her head.
“You are not sending me alone.”
May you like
Nathan picked up his coat.
“I wasn’t planning to send you at all.”
