Chapter 12 - What Margaret Did
Margaret did not deny it.
Adrian stood beside her hospital bed while rain crawled down the windows behind him.
“Martin said you switched Dad’s glass.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“That was twenty-five years ago.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I put a sedative in his drink.”
Adrian felt his stomach turn.
“Why?”
“He was going to sign over emergency voting control to Richard the next morning. He claimed it was temporary. I knew Richard would never give it back.”
“So you drugged him.”
“I wanted Thomas asleep through the meeting.”
“And instead he died.”
Margaret’s eyes filled. “His heart was worse than any of us knew.”
“Did Richard know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Martin?”
“He prepared the documents. He didn’t know about the drug until later.”
Adrian looked away.
Everything he had believed about his family had become rotten underneath.
Claire waited in the hallway. When Adrian came out, she did not touch him immediately.
She just said, “Do you want to talk?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
That simple answer nearly broke him.
He leaned against the wall.
“My father cheated. My mother drugged him. Richard hid money. Martin helped. Vanessa lied about my son. Is there anyone in my life who isn’t carrying a secret?”
Claire looked at him for a long moment.
“Yes.”
He looked up.
“Noah.”
Adrian gave a rough laugh.
“And me,” she added. “At least not anymore.”
The words hurt because they were true.
He had forced honesty out of everyone after punishing the one person who had given it freely.
Ortiz approached with a file.
“We identified the man from the pier. His phone has messages from a Hart Capital security executive. We also found one encrypted thread with someone listed as M.”
Adrian looked toward Margaret’s room.
Ortiz shook her head. “Not your mother. Different number.”
“Martin?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Then her phone rang.
She listened, face tightening.
“What happened?” Claire asked.
Ortiz ended the call.
“Richard Hart just boarded a private jet at Teterboro.”
Adrian stepped forward. “Destination?”
“Geneva.”
The brass key suddenly felt heavy in Adrian’s pocket.
Claire understood at the same time.
“The Swiss storage box.”
Ortiz nodded.
Adrian reached for his phone.
Then Claire’s expression changed.
“Where’s Vanessa?”
Nobody answered.
Ortiz called her detail.
No response.
A second later, Adrian received a video.
Vanessa sat in the back seat of a moving car, crying.
Richard’s voice came from off camera.
“Bring me the key in Geneva, Adrian.”
May you like
Then he leaned into frame.
“Or your sister disappears before you ever learn what your father really left you.”
