Chapter 6 - What Thomas Hart Knew
Reeves ordered Genevieve to remain downstairs.
She ignored him.
Evelyn grabbed her arm.
“Do not go up there.”
“Noah is a child.”
“And his parents are armed.”
“That makes him the person who needs help most.”
Genevieve moved toward the stairs.
Eleanor followed.
Reeves turned.
“Both of you stay back.”
A second-floor door opened.
Noah appeared at the railing.
His face was wet with tears.
“Miss Genevieve?”
Behind him, Sabrina grabbed his shoulder.
“Get back here.”
Genevieve stopped.
Sabrina held a handgun in her other hand.
Adrian stood farther down the corridor.
He looked less composed than Genevieve had ever seen him.
His jacket was gone.
His shirt untucked.
For the first time, he looked like what he was.
A frightened man whose lies had collapsed faster than he could control them.
Then he saw Genevieve.
His face emptied.
“You’re awake.”
Genevieve looked directly at him.
“Yes.”
He almost smiled.
“How long?”
“Long enough.”
Sabrina’s eyes widened.
“You heard us?”
“Yes.”
Adrian whispered something Genevieve could not hear.
Then he laughed once.
“Well.”
He looked toward Reeves.
“I assume you’ve been busy.”
Reeves raised his weapon.
“Put the gun down, Sabrina.”
Sabrina tightened her grip on Noah.
“Stay back.”
Noah looked at Genevieve.
“Dad said you were sleeping.”
Genevieve’s chest tightened.
“I woke up.”
“Are you okay?”
Sabrina snapped, “Noah.”
Genevieve answered anyway.
“I’m going to be.”
Adrian stared at her.
Something passed through his face.
Regret?
No.
Calculation.
Always calculation.
“Genevieve,” he said quietly, “you don’t understand what happened.”
She almost laughed.
“Which part?”
“Thomas.”
“My father?”
“He came after me.”
“You lied about knowing him that night.”
“Yes.”
“You helped cover up his death.”
“I panicked.”
“You stayed with me afterward.”
“I loved you.”
“You planned to steal my company.”
“I was trying to survive.”
“You ordered an attack on me.”
His expression changed.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did.”
Genevieve heard Marcus’s words.
Your attack wasn’t supposed to happen.
“What was supposed to happen?”
Adrian looked at Sabrina.
Sabrina said, “Don’t.”
Genevieve understood.
“Tell me.”
Adrian looked back at her.
“I wanted you scared.”
“Why?”
“So you’d postpone the wedding and temporarily sign control to me.”
“You could have asked.”
“You would have asked Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
“And she would have stopped you.”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“You always needed someone to tell you what to think.”
Genevieve smiled faintly.
“No. I just needed enough time to realize when someone was lying.”
Sabrina laughed bitterly.
“Oh, please. You believed him for three years.”
Genevieve looked at her.
“And you married him for nine.”
Sabrina’s face changed.
That landed.
Adrian said sharply, “Enough.”
Reeves ordered Sabrina again to put the weapon down.
She refused.
Eleanor whispered to Genevieve.
“The copy.”
“What?”
“The recording copy.”
“Where?”
Eleanor looked toward the upstairs study.
“In Thomas’s desk.”
Adrian heard.
He moved.
Reeves shouted.
“Stop!”
Adrian ran toward the study.
Two officers pursued him.
Sabrina dragged Noah backward.
Genevieve stepped forward.
“Let Noah come downstairs.”
“No.”
“He isn’t leverage.”
“He’s my son.”
“Then protect him.”
“Don’t tell me how to protect my child.”
Genevieve looked at Noah.
He was trembling.
“You know what it feels like when someone uses love as an excuse to frighten you?”
Sabrina’s face cracked for half a second.
Genevieve saw it.
“Adrian does that to you too, doesn’t he?”
“Shut up.”
“You covered up my father’s death for him.”
“It was an accident.”
“And he kept the evidence.”
Sabrina stared.
Genevieve continued.
“The repair invoice. The traffic records. Everything.”
Sabrina looked toward the study.
“He said he destroyed them.”
“He lies.”
Sabrina’s grip on the gun loosened slightly.
Genevieve took another step.
“He kept them because he wanted control over you.”
“No.”
“You know he did.”
Sabrina looked at Noah.
Then toward Adrian.
A shout came from the study.
Furniture crashed.
An officer yelled, “Hands!”
Sabrina’s attention broke.
Genevieve said, “Noah. Come here.”
The boy moved.
Sabrina instinctively reached for him.
Noah pulled away.
He ran downstairs.
Priya, who had somehow followed the police convoy despite Genevieve’s objections, caught him at the bottom.
Sabrina stared after her son.
Then slowly lowered the gun.
Reeves’s partner took it.
Sabrina began crying.
Not dramatically.
Just silently.
Like someone who had finally stopped pretending there was a way out.
Upstairs, officers emerged with Adrian in handcuffs.
He saw Sabrina being restrained.
“You idiot.”
Sabrina looked at him.
That was the moment something inside her finally died.
Not love.
Perhaps the illusion of it.
“You kept the evidence,” she said.
Adrian smiled coldly.
“Of course I did.”
Sabrina closed her eyes.
Reeves led Adrian downstairs.
Genevieve stood in his path.
For three years she had imagined standing opposite him at their wedding.
White dress.
Flowers.
Music.
His hands waiting for hers.
Instead, she wore a hospital gown beneath a borrowed coat.
Bandages covered part of her head.
Police held his arms behind his back.
And she had never felt more like herself.
Adrian stopped.
“You think this means you won?”
Genevieve answered calmly.
“I think it means you’re finally done choosing what happens to me.”
He leaned closer.
“You still don’t know who started this.”
Genevieve’s eyes narrowed.
“I know enough.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You know what Thomas wanted you to know.”
“What does that mean?”
“Ask your aunt.”
Genevieve looked toward Evelyn.
Adrian laughed.
“Not that aunt.”
Eleanor went pale.
Adrian saw it.
“There she is.”
Genevieve turned.
“What is he talking about?”
Eleanor said nothing.
Adrian continued.
“Tell her why Red Harbor existed before I ever met Sabrina.”
“Stop.”
“Tell her who financed it.”
Eleanor’s hands began trembling.
Genevieve stared.
“Aunt Ellie?”
Adrian laughed again.
“Oh, this is the part Thomas never got to finish.”
Reeves tightened his grip.
“Keep moving.”
Adrian called over his shoulder.
“Ask her about your mother.”
Genevieve froze.
Reeves stopped too.
“My mother?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Genevieve stepped toward her.
“What about my mother?”
Eleanor whispered, “Rose knew.”
“Knew what?”
“She discovered something about Thomas.”
Genevieve’s heart pounded.
“What?”
Eleanor looked toward the piano.
“Your father didn’t build Hart Meridian alone.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I mean the money.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“What are you talking about?”
Eleanor began crying.
“The original capital came from Rose.”
Genevieve stared.
Her mother?
Rose had come from a wealthy family but rarely discussed money.
“Why does that matter?”
“Because half the company was supposed to remain hers.”
Evelyn said, “It did.”
“No.”
Eleanor looked at Genevieve.
“Thomas changed the ownership structure before Rose died.”
Genevieve’s voice became quiet.
“Are you saying Dad stole from Mom?”
“I’m saying Rose believed he did.”
The room went silent.
“That’s impossible.”
“She threatened to leave him.”
Genevieve remembered nothing of that.
She had been eleven.
Her parents had seemed happy.
“But she died.”
“Yes.”
“Cancer.”
“Yes.”
“What does that have to do with Red Harbor?”
Eleanor wiped her face.
“Rose created it.”
Genevieve felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“What?”
“Not as a criminal company.”
Eleanor spoke quickly.
“She created Red Harbor as a private holding entity to protect her original investment.”
“Then how did Adrian get it?”
“I sold it.”
Evelyn stared.
“You what?”
“Years later. I needed money.”
“To whom?”
“A private buyer.”
“Adrian?”
“No.”
“Sabrina?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Eleanor looked toward the front door.
Police were escorting Adrian outside.
He turned once.
Smiled at Genevieve.
Eleanor whispered:
“The buyer was Felix Moran’s father.”
Genevieve understood nothing yet.
But Reeves did.
His face changed.
“Felix isn’t Adrian’s lawyer,” Reeves said.
Everyone looked at him.
“He’s the one behind Red Harbor.”
Before anyone could react, Genevieve’s phone rang.
Felix Moran.
She stared at his name.
Then answered.
“Hello, Genevieve.”
His voice was calm.
Almost cheerful.
“I believe you have something that belongs to my family.”
Genevieve looked at the recorder.
Felix continued.
May you like
“And if you want to know what really happened to your mother, come alone.”
The line went dead.
