Chapter 14 - THE AUCTION OF SECRETS|
The attack on Margaret’s house ended without a shot being fired inside. Dominic’s security team triggered the exterior lights, exposing the three vehicles and forcing the attackers to retreat into the woods. By the time the police arrived, the road was empty.
Margaret refused to stay in the house.
“They know where I am,” she said. “We have to move.”
They relocated to a private apartment above a closed bookstore in Boston. The building belonged to one of Margaret’s old legal contacts, a woman who had retired after refusing to handle another Reeve trust.
There, Lena studied the photograph of Sophie holding the baby.
The child wore a tiny star-shaped pendant.
Lena touched the empty clasp in her pocket.
“The pendant at Anchor House was mine. This one belonged to the baby.”
“Your niece,” Margaret said. “Anna.”
Lena repeated the name softly.
Anna.
For years, the child had existed only as a possibility, a face in a photograph, a life erased by men who considered people inconvenient details.
“Where is she now?”
“Solin has been moving her between safe locations. I believe he intends to use her to force the transfer of the trust.”
“Then we give him the wrong ledger,” Dominic said.
Lena shook her head.
“He knows the original is hidden. He wants the key.”
Margaret opened her case and removed a small envelope.
“Your father gave me this before he died. I was supposed to pass it to Sophie if anything happened to him.”
Inside was a page of handwriting and a series of numbers. Lena recognized the cipher immediately, but the final line had been cut away.
“He divided the key,” she said. “One part is here. The other part must be with Sophie.”
Adrian leaned against the wall.
“Then we find Sophie.”
Dominic’s investigator called with an unexpected lead. Solin was arranging a private auction at an abandoned hotel near the harbor. The official invitation described a sale of rare art and historic documents. The guest list included lawyers, property developers, and several officials whose names appeared in the hidden trust.
The real purpose was clear.
Solin intended to sell access to the Reeve network and use the ledger as proof that he controlled it.
Dominic planned to enter through the main hall with a legitimate invitation. Lena would approach through the service entrance, where the staff would be too busy to examine every face.
“I’m not using a waitress disguise again,” she said.
“Then don’t,” Dominic replied. “Wear whatever makes you feel like yourself.”
She chose a simple black dress and kept her hair loose. She carried no weapon, only a small recorder and the partial cipher tucked into her clutch.
The hotel ballroom was filled with expensive suits, polished shoes, and the low murmur of people pretending they were attending a respectable event.
At the center of the room stood Marcus Solin.
He was older than Lena had expected, with silver at his temples and a face so ordinary it seemed designed to be forgotten. He welcomed guests with the warmth of a man who had never needed to threaten anyone personally.
When he saw Lena, he smiled.
“Miss Voss. I wondered when you would stop hiding behind uniforms.”
“Where is Anna?”
“Safe.”
“Where is Sophie?”
“Also safe, for the moment.”
Lena’s fingers tightened around her clutch.
“You killed my family.”
“Your father made a choice. Your brother made a different one. Neither understood the scale of the operation they were trying to interrupt.”
“You’re proud of that?”
“No. I’m practical.”
He gestured toward a display case containing documents, jewelry, and old photographs.
“People like to imagine power is a matter of money. It isn’t. Power is knowing what everyone fears and deciding when to remind them.”
He leaned closer.
“Your father’s ledger can destroy several important people. Give me the key, and your niece will be returned unharmed.”
“And if I refuse?”
Solin smiled again.
“Then the auction continues.”
The ballroom lights dimmed.
A screen descended behind the stage.
The first image appeared: a bank statement bearing Dominic’s signature.
The second showed a list of payments to officials.
The third was a photograph of David Voss beside a car on the night he died.
Solin lifted a microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight’s final item is not a painting or a property deed. It is the truth about the man who inherited the Reeve empire.”
Dominic turned toward the screen.
Lena saw the color drain from his face.
The final image appeared.
It showed Dominic standing beside his father on the night of the murders.
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The timestamp was genuine.
And the photograph suggested that Dominic had been there.
