Chapter 6 - THE ATTORNEYHis name was Edward Hale.
He waited in the parking garage wearing a dark coat and carrying a leather briefcase.
Detective Alvarez insisted on coming with me.
When Edward saw me, his face changed.
“You look exactly like him.”
“Like my father?”
He nodded.
“Your eyes.”
I almost asked why he sounded afraid.
Then he opened the briefcase.
Inside was another document.
Old.
Yellowed.
Signed by my father.
“This was supposed to be given to you when you turned thirty.”
I stared.
“I'm twenty-nine.”
“I know.”
“Why now?”
“Because your husband forced my hand.”
I felt the familiar pressure in my chest.
“What did my father know about Daniel?”
Edward looked toward the garage entrance.
“He knew Daniel wasn't who he claimed to be.”
“Then why did he let me marry him?”
“Because your father died unexpectedly.”
I froze.
Unexpectedly.
Those were the words everyone had used.
Heart attack.
Natural causes.
Edward looked away.
“It wasn't that simple.”
My throat tightened.
“What are you saying?”
“I believe your father's death may not have been natural.”
Detective Alvarez immediately stepped forward.
“Do you have evidence?”
Edward opened the folder.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Travel records.
And one handwritten journal page.
My father's handwriting.
Daniel knows about the Meridian account. He thinks my daughter inherited nothing. That is what will keep her safe.
I stared.
“Meridian account?”
Edward nodded.
“Your father created it decades ago.”
“What was in it?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
He looked at me.
“Enough to buy several companies.”
I could barely breathe.
“Why would my father hide millions from me?”
“He wasn't hiding the money from you.”
He turned the page.
“He was hiding you from the people who wanted it.”
My hands went cold.
“Who?”
Edward didn't answer.
Instead, he pulled out a second photograph.
It showed Daniel.
Not with Vanessa.
Not with me.
With my father.
Standing outside the same warehouse.
And standing beside them was another man.
Older.
Powerful.
I recognized him immediately.
“That's Richard Voss.”
Edward's eyes narrowed.
“You know him?”
“Everyone does.”
Richard Voss was the billionaire founder of Voss Holdings.
The man whose name appeared constantly in business magazines.
The man Daniel had spent years claiming he hated.
Edward nodded slowly.
“Your father worked with him.”
“No.”
“He did.”
“And Daniel?”
“Daniel worked for him.”
My stomach dropped.
The entire marriage suddenly looked different.
Daniel hadn't simply entered my life.
He had entered my life through a network my father had built.
Through the money.
Through Meridian.
Through people I had never known existed.
Then Edward lowered his voice.
“Your husband wasn't sent to marry you.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“He was sent to find something.”
“What?”
Edward looked straight into my eyes.
“The Meridian key.”
I remembered the anonymous message.
The key.
The one my father hid.
“What key?”
Edward pointed toward the photograph of my father.
“Your father gave it to you.”
“I don't have it.”
Edward's face became pale.
“Yes, you do.”
He pointed at my neck.
I touched the thin silver necklace I had worn since I was eighteen.
My father had given it to me on my birthday.
I'd never taken it off.
Edward whispered:
“The key isn't the car.”
May you like
He reached toward the pendant.
“The key is the necklace.”
