Chapter 11 - THE FILE UNDER THE FLOOR|
Isabella's words followed Elena all the way back to the estate.
The little girl had fallen asleep in the car, exhausted and frightened. Adrian sat beside her, one hand resting protectively on her shoulder. He had not spoken since they left the terminal.
When they arrived, he carried Isabella upstairs himself.
Elena remained in the entrance hall.
Margaret approached.
"Are you all right?"
"No."
"Neither is anyone else."
Elena looked toward the staircase.
"Isabella says her mother is alive."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Then we need to find out why someone told her that."
Adrian returned several minutes later.
"Victor is alive. He was taken to a secure medical facility."
"Will he talk?"
"He will if he wants to keep breathing."
Elena looked at him.
"Threatening him won't make him tell the truth."
"Neither will asking politely."
"Maybe the truth is the only thing he can't afford to reveal."
Adrian studied her.
"You think there's something he fears more than me."
"I think he's working for someone who can reach him even when he's locked away."
He didn't argue.
Margaret brought them to Sophia's old study. The room had remained untouched since her death. A large bookcase covered one wall, and a Persian rug lay beneath the desk.
Elena examined the photograph from the clinic again.
"Your wife knew my mother. She trusted her with something. If the evidence was important, she wouldn't have left it somewhere obvious."
Adrian moved toward the desk.
"She used to hide things in books."
They searched for nearly an hour.
Elena found nothing in the shelves, but when she moved the rug, she noticed a slight depression in the floorboards.
"Here."
Adrian knelt and examined it.
One board was loose.
He lifted it with a small tool.
Beneath it was a metal box.
Inside were three photographs, a flash drive, and a sealed letter addressed to Margaret Hartwell.
Elena recognized her mother's name.
She opened the letter.
Margaret, if you're reading this, then I was unable to protect you. The records prove that Dominic Corsetti arranged the transfer of the Northstar assets, but he did not order the deaths. Someone inside the family changed the medical files and used the old man's money to cover it. The person responsible has access to Isabella's medication and Adrian's security detail.
Elena continued.
Do not trust the doctor. Do not trust the person who controls the house. And whatever happens, do not let them take the black ledger.
Adrian looked at her.
"What black ledger?"
"I don't know."
The flash drive contained a list of payments. Names, dates, account numbers, and transfers. One name appeared repeatedly.
Dr. Samuel Howard.
Another appeared beside it.
Celeste Corsetti.
But the final entry was different.
A transfer of five million dollars had been made to a company registered under Elena's own name.
Hartwell Medical Consulting.
Elena stared at the screen.
"I've never owned a company."
Adrian leaned closer.
"Someone used your identity."
"Why?"
He opened the registration documents.
The company had been created five years earlier, shortly before her mother died.
A signature appeared at the bottom.
It looked like Elena's.
But she had never signed it.
Margaret entered the room carrying a second envelope.
"There's something you need to see."
Inside was an old hospital photograph of Elena's mother.
She was standing beside a woman wearing a doctor's coat.
The woman had a familiar face.
Dr. Howard.
But the photograph was dated six months after Margaret Hartwell's official death.
Elena stared at it.
"That can't be possible."
Margaret turned the picture over.
A handwritten message appeared.
If Elena ever finds this, tell her the truth about the night she was born.
Elena looked at Adrian.
"What truth?"
He had no answer.
May you like
Then Margaret whispered something that made the room go silent.
"Elena, your mother didn't die five years ago."
