Chapter 6 - The Missing Ledger
Nathan stared at Vanessa.
“My father has been dead for four years.”
“I know.”
“What could he possibly have hidden that required you to fake a pregnancy?”
Vanessa sat slowly.
Her hands trembled.
This time Nathan could not tell whether the fear was real.
“Your father kept a private ledger.”
Ethan frowned.
“What ledger?”
Vanessa glanced at him.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
She almost smiled.
“That’s interesting.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“Explain.”
Vanessa took a breath.
“Adrian believed your father maintained records of payments that never appeared in Cole Meridian’s official accounts.”
“What kind of payments?”
“Settlements.”
Nathan’s expression changed.
“Settlements for what?”
“People your father wanted to disappear.”
Ethan scoffed.
“That sounds convenient.”
“It’s true.”
“According to Mercer?”
“According to records I saw.”
Nathan sat behind his desk.
His father, Charles Cole, had been difficult.
Controlling.
Ruthless in business.
But Nathan had never thought of him as criminal.
“What does this have to do with the trust?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“The household trust gives the co-trustee access to a sealed archive.”
Nathan stopped breathing for a second.
Ethan frowned.
“What archive?”
“Box C-17.”
Nathan remembered the designation.
He had seen it in old estate documents.
He had assumed it referred to tax records.
Vanessa continued.
“Adrian said the ledger was inside.”
“And you believed him?”
“I saw enough to believe him.”
Nathan stood.
“So the baby was a key.”
Vanessa lowered her head.
“Yes.”
Not a child.
Not a future.
A key.
Nathan felt the last part of his marriage finally disappear.
Ethan looked unconvinced.
“If you needed a child to access the archive, how were you planning to handle the fact that no child would ever be born?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I wasn’t.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“The plan changed.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian found another way into the archive.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“How?”
Vanessa looked directly at Nathan.
“With your signature.”
Nathan laughed.
“He doesn’t have my signature.”
Vanessa did not respond.
Nathan’s smile disappeared.
“You forged it.”
“No.”
“Then how?”
She stared at the desk.
Nathan followed her eyes.
A horrible realization began forming.
For years he had signed stacks of corporate documents without reading every page.
Vanessa sometimes brought papers home from the office.
She would place colored tabs where he needed to sign.
Insurance forms.
Tax documents.
Property approvals.
Trust notices.
Nathan slowly whispered,
“What did I sign?”
Vanessa answered carefully.
“An authorization.”
“For what?”
“To open Box C-17.”
Nathan’s heart started pounding.
“When?”
“Eleven days ago.”
Ethan immediately pulled out his phone.
Nathan looked toward Vanessa.
“Where is the box?”
She said nothing.
Ethan was already dialing security at the family archive.
Then he stopped.
His face changed.
Nathan saw it.
“What?”
Ethan turned the screen toward him.
There was a security alert from the Cole private archive.
May you like
Timestamped forty-three minutes earlier.
Box C-17 had already been removed.
