Chapter 7 - The Last Night of Thomas BellamyNathaniel survived.
Barely.
Someone had attacked him inside his office.
He was unconscious for several hours.
When he woke, he gave me one sentence.
“The video wasn't a recording.”
I didn't understand.
“What does that mean?”
“It was a live feed.”
My blood ran cold.
Someone had been watching us.
The video from my father's final night appeared on a secure drive.
We watched it together.
My father sat in an office.
Across from him was Gavin.
They argued.
I couldn't hear everything.
But one sentence was clear.
Gavin said,
“You can't take this from me.”
My father replied,
“It was never yours.”
Then Adrian entered.
Then Judge Beckett.
Then another man.
A man I had never seen.
He placed a folder on the table.
My father opened it.
His expression changed.
He looked terrified.
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
“What was in the folder?”
Adrian answered,
“The original Project Atlas files.”
“What's the fourth man's name?”
Nobody answered.
Then the door behind us opened.
Judge Beckett walked in.
She looked directly at me.
“I know who he is.”
My heart hammered.
“Who?”
She sat down.
“Samuel Voss.”
“Who is that?”
“The man who owns the shell companies financing Gavin.”
I stared.
“Then why is he helping him?”
“He isn't.”
That again.
Nobody was giving me the answer I wanted.
Judge Beckett continued.
“Voss has been blackmailing Gavin for years.”
“With what?”
“With the one thing Gavin fears more than prison.”
“What's that?”
“Exposure.”
She reached into her bag.
Pulled out a file.
Then she placed a photograph on the table.
Gavin.
Sloane.
And Samuel Voss.
Taken six weeks earlier.
In a private hotel room.
I looked away.
“An affair?”
“No.”
Judge Beckett shook her head.
“This is why Sloane is important.”
“She knows Voss?”
“She is Voss's daughter.”
Silence.
I looked at the photograph again.
Sloane's face.
Gavin's.
Voss's.
The pieces began clicking into place.
Sloane had not appeared in Gavin's life by accident.
Someone had placed her there.
But who?
Judge Beckett looked at me.
“Your husband has been monitored for years.”
“By Voss?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Gavin stole something from him.”
“What?”
“The Atlas system.”
I frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if Voss designed it first.”
My mouth went dry.
So Gavin had stolen my father's technology.
Then Voss had stolen it from Gavin.
Or perhaps Gavin had stolen it from Voss.
And everyone was lying.
The courtroom hearing was scheduled to resume the next morning.
But before that happened, Sloane came to my house.
Alone.
She looked terrified.
“I need to tell you something.”
I let her in.
She sat at the kitchen table.
“I never loved Gavin.”
I stared.
“That's convenient.”
She shook her head.
“No. You don't understand.”
She reached into her purse.
Pulled out a small recording device.
“I was sent to him.”
“By Voss?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To get the Atlas files.”
My skin prickled.
“Did you?”
She nodded.
Then whispered,
“But I never gave them to my father.”
“Why?”
She looked down.
“Because I found out what was inside.”
“What?”
She switched on the recorder.
A man's voice filled the room.
Gavin's.
Then another.
My father's.
Then silence.
Then Gavin said:
“Cassandra doesn't know yet.”
Sloane stopped the recording.
My heart pounded.
“What was he talking about?”
She looked at me.
“Your twin sons.”
I froze.
“What about them?”
Sloane whispered,
“They aren't just his heirs.”
May you like
She reached for my hand.
“They're the reason Gavin married you.”
