Chapter 12 - The Price of Silence
Celeste came to my apartment at 2:00 a.m.
She was crying.
“I found Adrian’s second phone.”
It contained encrypted messages.
Some were with Marcus.
Others were with Julian.
My cousin.
They discussed proxy votes.
Trustee replacements.
My mother.
One message from Adrian read:
Eleanor refused. Use contingency.
Julian replied:
Charlotte cannot know I’m involved.
I stared at the screen until the words blurred.
Celeste sat across from me.
“I’m sorry.”
“For dragging me across the floor?”
“For everything.”
I looked at her.
“Sorry is what people say when they break a glass.”
Her face crumpled.
“You’re right.”
She handed me the phone anyway.
The final message contained our deadline.
Seventy-two hours.
That was when Solmere’s primary lender intended to accelerate $310 million in debt.
Marcus planned to buy it through a fund called Winter Harbor Capital.
May you like
Project Winter.
If we failed, he could still steal the empire legally.
