Chapter 12 - The Box Beneath the Library
The Ashford family townhouse had been closed for years.
Khloe’s mother had lived there before her death.
Gabriel maintained the property but rarely entered.
By evening, Khloe, Marcus, Gabriel, Margaret, and two private investigators stood inside the old library.
Dust covered the shelves.
A white sheet protected the piano.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Gabriel held the brass key Evelyn had given him twelve years earlier.
“She told me never to use it unless someone came asking about Lorenzo Rossi.”
Khloe stared at him.
“And when Lorenzo died?”
“Nobody asked.”
“Isabella’s mother?”
“She never contacted me.”
Gabriel looked ashamed.
“I assumed Evelyn had been talking about something unrelated.”
Khloe shook her head.
“You could have told me.”
“You were nineteen.”
“I’m not nineteen anymore.”
Gabriel accepted that.
One investigator found a small keyhole beneath the center drawer of Evelyn’s writing desk.
The brass key fit.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside sat a metal box.
Khloe stared at it.
Her mother had hidden this before Lorenzo died.
Which meant the conspiracy was older than anyone realized.
Gabriel opened the box.
Inside were documents.
A flash drive.
Three photographs.
And one handwritten letter.
The envelope said KHOLOE.
Khloe’s breath caught.
Her mother had misspelled nothing.
This letter had always been meant for her.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
My beautiful girl.
If Gabriel gives you this, then the things I feared may finally have happened.
Khloe stopped reading.
Marcus stood beside her but did not touch her.
She continued.
Conrad Thorne has built part of his empire on a secret partnership he cannot allow the public to understand.
Lorenzo Rossi discovered it.
So did I.
We agreed to preserve evidence separately.
If either of us was silenced, the other would protect the truth.
Khloe looked at Gabriel.
“My mother knew.”
He nodded slowly.
She continued.
Do not assume the person who appears most powerful is the person in control.
Conrad answers to someone.
Khloe’s eyes moved faster.
The next paragraph named Northstar.
Atlas.
Meridian.
And another company none of them had seen before.
Vesper Holdings.
Marcus took one of the documents.
“Who owns Vesper?”
Gabriel’s investigator began searching.
The corporate registry led through Delaware.
Then Luxembourg.
Then the Cayman Islands.
Eventually, one name appeared.
Margaret Thorne.
Everyone turned toward her.
Margaret looked horrified.
“I have never seen that company.”
Marcus stared at his mother.
“Your name is on it.”
“I didn’t create it.”
Gabriel examined the signature records.
“They used a trust established twenty-nine years ago.”
Margaret’s face drained of color.
“My marriage trust.”
Marcus understood.
“Dad used your identity.”
Margaret sat down.
Khloe inserted the flash drive into an offline laptop.
One folder appeared.
ROSSI.
Another.
ATLAS.
Another.
C.T.
And one final folder.
MARCUS.
Marcus stared at his own name.
Khloe clicked it.
Inside was a single video file.
Recorded by Evelyn Ashford twelve years earlier.
Khloe pressed play.
Her mother appeared on the screen.
May you like
She looked directly into the camera.
“If Marcus Thorne ever marries my daughter, there is something Khloe must know before she trusts his family.”
