Chapter 6 - Three Agreements and One Lie
Samuel raised his hands.
Margaret kept the gun pointed at his chest.
“There were three versions of the agreement,” she said.
I looked at Samuel.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“The first was drafted by your father. The second was forged by Margaret. The third was mine.”
“Which did I activate?”
“Mine.”
Margaret laughed.
“The one that transfers everything to him.”
Samuel’s expression hardened.
“Temporarily.”
“How long?”
“Seventy-two hours.”
“And after that?”
“A trustee review determines permanent authority.”
“Who are the trustees?”
“Five people.”
“Names.”
Samuel hesitated.
“Marcus. Victor Lang. Myself. Two deceased members whose proxies are held by the legal office.”
“Your legal office.”
“Yes.”
“So you control three votes.”
“Technically.”
The word made me cold.
Andrew had used my marriage.
Margaret had used my humiliation.
Brenda had used my reputation.
Now Samuel had used the contingency protocol.
Every road led to another person who claimed control was protection.
Margaret stepped closer.
“Your father discovered Samuel’s structure before he died.”
“My father died of cancer.”
“No.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
Margaret said, “He was poisoned.”
The room became silent.
“You are lying.”
“She is not,” Samuel said.
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Who poisoned him?”
“We never proved it.”
“Why was there no investigation?”
“Because exposure would have caused a corporate war.”
“A corporate war mattered more than my father’s murder?”
“He was already dying.”
The answer hit me harder than I expected.
Margaret lowered the gun slightly.
“Samuel buried the report because the toxin was linked to Brenda’s mother.”
“Celeste?”
“Yes.”
“Celeste died years before my father.”
Margaret smiled.
“That is what everyone was told.”
My father’s old desk phone began ringing.
The line had been disconnected for seven years.
I picked it up.
A woman spoke.
“Mariana, do not trust either of them.”
“Who is this?”
“My name is Celeste Warren.”
Brenda’s mother.
The woman everyone believed had died eighteen years earlier.
Samuel stepped toward the phone.
“Celeste, do not reveal your location.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You still believe you can control every truth.”
I put the call on speaker.
“Why did everyone think you were dead?”
“Rafael staged my death.”
“My father?”
“He said it was the only way to protect Brenda.”
“From whom?”
“The Hale family.”
Margaret’s hand tightened around the gun.
Celeste continued.
“Margaret’s father, Charles Hale, discovered Rafael had another daughter. He threatened to expose Brenda unless Rafael transferred company shares.”
“My father destroyed Charles financially,” Margaret said.
“Because Charles planned to abduct Brenda,” Celeste answered.
Margaret froze.
“You’re lying.”
“I heard him arrange it.”
Margaret’s expression fractured.
Her revenge had been built on a version of her father that might never have existed.
A red light appeared inside my father’s portrait.
Celeste whispered, “Get down.”
May you like
The painting exploded inward.
A bullet tore through the wall where my head had been.
