Chapter 7 - The Brother Who Knew Too Much
Elena locked the study door.
Thomas shook his head.
“That won’t stop them.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked exhausted.
“My mother.”
Elena stared at him.
“Eleanor?”
“Julian thinks he’s running everything.”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“He isn’t.”
He pointed toward the missing drive.
“I took this before Julian’s people could.”
“You could have told me.”
“I didn’t know whether I could trust you.”
“And now?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Now Julian tried to trap you inside the estate.”
He opened the laptop.
Several encrypted folders filled the screen.
Thomas selected one.
A list of shell corporations appeared.
Elena recognized Northbridge Consulting.
But there were dozens more.
“This goes back fourteen years.”
Thomas said.
“Long before Julian married you.”
Elena frowned.
“Then Meridian wasn’t the original target.”
“No.”
Thomas opened another document.
Their late father, Charles Ashford, had discovered the accounts shortly before his death.
Officially, Charles had died of a heart attack.
Thomas had found correspondence suggesting Charles intended to remove Eleanor from the family trust.
Three days later, he was dead.
Elena stared at Thomas.
“Are you saying Eleanor killed your father?”
“I’m saying he became inconvenient.”
“That isn’t proof.”
“No.”
Thomas looked toward the evidence drive.
“But Camille found proof of something else.”
He explained that Camille had originally helped Julian manipulate invoices.
She believed it was tax concealment and executive bonuses.
Then she discovered forged signatures, stolen identities, and accounts belonging to deceased employees.
When Camille threatened to report Julian, Eleanor intervened.
Two weeks later, Camille’s car went into the river.
“She staged her death?”
“With my help.”
Elena stared at him.
Thomas nodded.
“I got her out.”
“Why didn’t you go to authorities?”
“Because one detective assigned to the case was already taking money from Eleanor.”
Elena felt the conspiracy widening beneath her feet.
“What does Camille have?”
Thomas looked at her.
“The original ledger.”
Elena’s pulse quickened.
“Where?”
Thomas hesitated.
Then headlights appeared through the window.
Three vehicles were coming up the private road.
Thomas closed the laptop.
“They found us.”
Elena looked at him.
“Julian?”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
His face had gone white.
“Mother.”
