Chapter 12 - Project Harbor
Thomas Reed agreed to speak under one condition.
No Evelyn.
No Thomas Hart.
No Charles Mercer.
Sarah could listen.
I could listen.
That was all.
The call came through an encrypted law-enforcement channel Sarah arranged after confirming enough of Reed’s identity to proceed.
His voice sounded clearer.
Now I knew why it had felt familiar.
I had heard him speak at Rachel’s funeral.
One sentence.
“She was braver than people knew.”
At the time, I had thought it was generic sympathy.
Now it sounded like a confession.
“What is Project Harbor?” I asked.
Reed was silent for several seconds.
“Rachel named it.”
“For what?”
“A private compliance review.”
“Into the foundation?”
“Into everything connected to Robert Mercer’s estate.”
Rachel’s biological father.
“Did Rachel know Robert was her father?”
“Yes.”
I felt betrayed all over again.
“When did she learn?”
“Three weeks before she died.”
“From who?”
“Me.”
Thomas Hart shut his eyes when Sarah later relayed that part to him.
But during the call, I stayed focused.
“What did Project Harbor uncover?”
“Robert Mercer’s estate had been partially absorbed into Hart Foundation entities after his death.”
“Legally?”
“Some of it.”
“And the rest?”
“Moved through nominee companies.”
“Charles?”
“Charles benefited.”
“Evelyn?”
“Indirectly.”
“Andrew Vale?”
“Medical documentation.”
I gripped the phone.
“What does medicine have to do with property?”
“Capacity.”
Sarah looked at me.
Reed continued.
“If a beneficiary could be declared medically incapable, management rights shifted temporarily.”
“To who?”
“Different administrators depending on the asset.”
“Meaning Evelyn could control Rachel’s interest if Rachel became incapacitated.”
“Yes.”
“And after Rachel died?”
“Lily inherited the interest.”
“Then they needed Lily incapacitated.”
“That was one route.”
My stomach turned.
“What was another?”
“Daniel could be declared incapable of managing Lily’s assets.”
The false heart diagnosis.
The altered injector.
“What was Andrew doing with my medical records?”
“Building options.”
I felt physically cold.
Sarah asked, “Who authorized him?”
Reed paused.
“That’s the name Rachel removed from her letter.”
“Do you know it?”
“I know the initials.”
“Tell us.”
“J.M.”
The initials meant nothing to me.
Sarah asked, “Full name?”
“I never had proof.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I will not accuse someone based on an abbreviation.”
“Then what proof exists?”
“The Harbor archive.”
“Where?”
“Rachel hid it.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
I almost laughed from frustration.
“Everyone keeps telling me Rachel hid evidence without knowing where.”
“She stopped trusting us.”
“Us?”
“Me. Claire. Thomas. Her mother. Everyone.”
“Why didn’t she trust you?”
“Because I made the worst decision of my career.”
“What?”
“I told Charles Mercer she was investigating.”
The silence afterward was enormous.
“You exposed her.”
“I thought I could scare him into stopping.”
“Rachel died days later.”
“I know.”
His voice cracked for the first time.
I wanted to hate him.
Maybe I did.
But there was something else.
A question.
“Why disappear?”
“Because after Rachel died, someone broke into my apartment.”
“What did they take?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why?”
“They left something.”
“What?”
“A photograph of my daughter walking into school.”
Sarah’s expression hardened.
Reed continued.
“I agreed to cooperate with investigators in another financial case and disappeared from public view.”
“Why contact me now?”
“Because Lily’s medical event means the asset-control plan is active again.”
“And you knew about the injectors?”
“I knew Andrew had ordered two devices under false patient profiles.”
“How?”
“I still have access to a source inside Mercer’s network.”
Sarah leaned forward.
“Who?”
“No.”
“Thomas.”
“No.”
“Then how do we verify anything you’re saying?”
“You don’t trust me. You verify Project Harbor.”
“You said you don’t know where it is.”
“I know the key.”
“What key?”
Reed said one word.
“Rosebud.”
My breath caught.
Rachel used Rosebud as the password for exactly one thing.
The old cloud photo account she created when Lily was born.
I logged in.
Hundreds of family photographs appeared.
Sarah searched archived folders.
Nothing named Harbor.
Then I remembered Rachel’s habit of hiding work files inside ordinary folders.
LILY — FIRST YEAR.
Within it was a subfolder with no photographs.
Just numbers.
I opened it.
Encrypted PDFs.
Medical records.
Trust documents.
Emails.
And one spreadsheet titled ACCESS LOG.
The final entry showed who downloaded my confidential medical file.
User:
JMORGAN.
Sarah stared at the screen.
“Who is J. Morgan?”
I knew immediately.
Jonathan Morgan.
The Hart Foundation’s current executive director.
May you like
The man who had personally organized the charity luncheon where Lily collapsed.
📖 Find out why Jonathan Morgan accessed my private medical records—and what his hidden connection to Evelyn exposed in CHAPTER 13. 👇
