Chapter 5 - What Grandfather Knew"That can't be right," I said. "I built Meridian from scratch."

"You did," Naomi replied. "This concerns a different company. Shoreline Development. Your grandfather's original hospitality business."

I remembered his weathered hands, his little office, and the way he'd let me stamp invoices as a child. My father had told me the business failed long before Grandfather died.

"Your father controlled the trust while you were a minor," Naomi continued. "The assets were supposedly liquidated. But certain documents suggest they weren't."

"How much?"

"Enough to give your parents a motive for hiding it."

At the hospital, Mia fell asleep as the sun slipped below the window. I stayed beside her while Naomi sent an old photograph of Grandfather standing in front of a seaside hotel. Behind him was a sign reading SHORELINE RESORTS.

The logo looked familiar. A gold compass rose. I'd seen it embossed on a folder in my father's study when I was sixteen.

My father called. I almost ignored him. Instead I put him on speaker and started recording after telling him the call would be documented.

"You made us look like criminals," he snarled.

"You hit my injured child."

"A couple of taps. She's fine."

"You don't know that. And you don't get to decide what counts."

He shifted tactics. "What will people say about this family? Think about your mother. Think about Sarah."

"You should've thought about Mia."

"You owe us," he said. "We raised you."

"You fed me and kept a roof over my head. That didn't give you ownership of my life."

Then he said, "That island might be yours today, but your grandfather's land never was."

I sat upright. "What does that mean?"

He went quiet.

"Dad?"

"Stop digging, Elena. Some doors stay closed for a reason."

He hung up.

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A moment later Naomi forwarded a map of Grandfather's holdings. One parcel had been marked with a red star. It lay beneath the resort's northern service road.

Beside it were the words: ORIGINAL RECORDS - BURIED VAULT.