Chapter 2 - The Envelope at the Door
Richard Hale knew.
That was the first thing Adrian understood.
The second was that Richard had lied to him.
The third was that Marissa had no idea how much danger she was in.
Adrian waited outside for almost an hour.
Richard eventually left.
He didn't see Adrian.
Marissa remained inside.
Adrian drove back to the estate.
He didn't sleep that night.
At two in the morning, he entered the library and opened the Whitmore family archives.
He searched for Ethan Keane.
Nothing.
He searched for Marissa Keane.
Nothing.
He searched Thomas Whitmore.
Hundreds of records.
Thomas had been his father's older brother.
He had died in a car accident thirty-two years earlier.
Adrian remembered him only from photographs.
A serious man.
Tall.
Intelligent.
The heir everyone expected to lead Whitmore Infrastructure.
Then Adrian found a handwritten note from his grandfather, William Whitmore.
It contained one sentence.
“Edward must never know she survived.”
Adrian stared at it.
Who was “she”?
He kept searching.
Then he found a sealed trust.
Created in 1991.
Beneficiary:
MARISSA KEANE.
Adrian stopped breathing.
He read the rest.
The trust had originally contained thirty-five million dollars.
Twenty million had disappeared.
The remaining assets, through investments and compounding, were now worth approximately eighty-seven million.
Marissa Keane was the primary beneficiary.
Her son, Owen, was the contingent beneficiary.
Adrian sat down.
Why would his grandfather create an eighty-seven-million-dollar trust for his housekeeper?
Unless—
Marissa wasn't his housekeeper.
She was family.
The next morning Adrian confronted Richard.
“You know who Marissa is.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
Richard looked at him.
“Thomas's daughter.”
Adrian felt the room tilt.
“My uncle?”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn't I told?”
“Because your father wanted her erased.”
“Why?”
Richard's voice dropped.
“Because Thomas discovered Edward was stealing from the company.”
Adrian stared at him.
“How much?”
“Millions.”
“And the trust?”
“Thomas created it for his daughter.”
“Why didn't she receive it?”
“Because everyone was told she died.”
Adrian stood.
“You're telling me my family erased a child.”
Richard didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Then Adrian asked:
“What happened to Thomas?”
Richard looked toward the window.
“His car went off a bridge.”
“He died.”
“No.”
Adrian froze.
Richard whispered:
“He survived the crash.”
“Then how did he die?”
May you like
Richard looked directly at him.
“Your father made sure he didn't leave the hospital alive.”
