Chapter 13 - The Wrong Name
Everyone turned toward Graham.
He looked stunned.
“Don’t.”
Aaron immediately raised his weapon toward him.
Graham lifted his hands.
“Elena, this is insane.”
Robert gasped on the floor.
Blood spread beneath his shoulder.
The bullet had missed his heart.
Barely.
“Who shot him?”
Elena demanded.
Security teams rushed outside.
Graham remained frozen near the desk.
“I didn’t do this.”
Robert laughed weakly.
“He always says that.”
Graham stared at him.
“I’ve never met you.”
Robert looked toward Elena.
“Ask him about Room 608.”
Elena’s pulse jumped.
She faced Graham.
“What happened in Room 608?”
His expression changed.
Tiny.
But visible.
Elena saw it.
Margaret saw it too.
Graham lowered his hands.
“Elena.”
“What happened?”
He looked toward Aaron.
“Not with guns pointed at me.”
Aaron did not lower his weapon.
Elena stepped closer.
“Answer.”
Graham exhaled.
“I was there.”
Margaret whispered.
“No.”
Graham’s eyes remained on Elena.
“I was twenty-six.”
“I worked for a consulting firm handling Voss acquisitions.”
“Why were you in my mother’s room?”
“Because she invited me.”
“For what?”
“To give her evidence.”
Robert coughed.
“Liar.”
Graham snapped toward him.
“You were the one outside the door.”
Elena’s head turned.
Robert’s face tightened.
Graham continued.
“Evelyn knew someone had leaked her location.”
“She thought it was me.”
“I showed her the transfer records proving it wasn’t.”
Margaret looked sick.
“My transfer records.”
“Yes.”
Graham nodded.
“I proved Margaret had been coerced.”
Margaret stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I knew everything.”
Elena stepped back.
“You’ve been lying to me for nine years.”
“I promised Evelyn.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Her voice rose.
“My mother is dead, Graham.”
“You answer to me now.”
He looked wounded.
“I know.”
“Then tell me who the Steward is.”
Graham hesitated.
That hesitation nearly destroyed him.
Elena’s eyes hardened.
“Wrong choice.”
She turned toward Aaron.
“Take him into custody.”
“Elena.”
“Until I know who’s loyal, nobody gets trust for free.”
Graham did not resist.
As Aaron cuffed him, Robert laughed painfully.
“Evelyn would be proud.”
Elena crouched beside Robert.
“Don’t use her name.”
His smile disappeared.
“You need me.”
“Maybe.”
“You definitely do.”
“You killed Shaw.”
“He was Meridian.”
“So are you.”
Robert’s eyes sharpened.
“Helix marks suspected assets.”
“Not confirmed assets.”
Elena looked toward Margaret.
She had never been told that.
Robert continued.
“Evelyn filled Helix with false names deliberately.”
“Why?”
“So if Meridian stole it, they would purge some of their own people.”
Elena thought of the fourteen employees who had vanished.
“A poisoned list.”
Robert nodded weakly.
“Exactly.”
“Is Damian Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“Is Decker?”
“Yes.”
“Are you?”
Robert smiled.
“No.”
Elena didn’t believe him.
“Who is the Steward?”
Robert closed his eyes.
“Room 608.”
“What about it?”
“The man Evelyn met after Graham left.”
“Name.”
Robert opened his eyes.
“He called himself David Voss.”
Elena frowned.
“There is no David Voss.”
Margaret had gone completely white.
Elena turned.
“Aunt Margaret?”
Margaret gripped the edge of the table.
“There was.”
“Who?”
Her voice barely worked.
“Our brother.”
Elena stared.
“You never told me my mother had a brother.”
Margaret whispered.
“Because he died before you were born.”
Robert looked at Elena.
“No.”
“He didn’t.”
A phone rang upstairs.
Not Elena’s.
Not Margaret’s.
An old landline.
The same landline disconnected nine years earlier.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
Elena slowly walked toward it.
She answered.
A man’s voice spoke.
“Elena.”
May you like
Her stomach dropped.
“I’ve been waiting a very long time to meet my niece.”
