Chapter 6 - The Fourth Name in the Merger
Theo drew Isabelle back.
A man emerged.
Not Damien.
Their uncle, Victor Voss.
Gabriel’s younger brother.
Isabelle had not seen him since her father’s funeral.
Victor raised both hands.
“I can explain.”
Adrian looked furious.
“You were supposed to be in Switzerland.”
“I came back three months ago.”
“Why?”
“Because Damien contacted me.”
The fourth name in the merger was Victor’s.
He had secretly sold dormant Voss licensing rights to Damien.
Rights he did not fully own.
“You helped him,” Isabelle said.
“I thought it was legitimate.”
“For forty-seven million dollars?”
Victor winced.
“I was desperate.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“2019.”
Victor looked at him.
Isabelle demanded, “What happened?”
Adrian finally confessed.
In 2019, two years into Isabelle’s marriage, he had discovered Damien moving money through a shell company.
He confronted him.
Damien claimed it was tax restructuring.
Adrian investigated further and found no proof of theft.
Then Isabelle became pregnant.
Her heart stopped.
“What?”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“You miscarried at six weeks.”
“I was never pregnant before.”
“Yes, you were.”
“No.”
“You collapsed at a charity dinner. Damien took you to a private clinic.”
Isabelle remembered.
Food poisoning, Damien had told her.
Two days of fever.
Medication.
A doctor she never saw again.
Her knees weakened.
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Damien said you knew.”
Adrian looked sick.
“He said you didn't want anyone discussing it.”
Luca’s face had become murderous.
Isabelle pressed both hands over her stomach.
The child she carried now suddenly felt impossibly precious.
“Did Damien know?”
“Yes.”
She turned toward Victor.
“Why is this connected to you?”
Victor opened the basement fully.
Below were filing cabinets.
“Because I found the clinic payment.”
Damien had paid the doctor through one of Victor’s companies.
Not to cause the miscarriage, Victor insisted.
There was no evidence of that.
The payment had been for secrecy.
Damien did not want Isabelle’s brothers learning about the pregnancy because he was negotiating financing that depended on Isabelle remaining unaware of certain trust provisions triggered by an heir.
An heir.
Everything returned to money.
Even grief she had never been allowed to know was hers.
Isabelle walked outside.
She vomited beside the stone steps.
Luca stayed several feet away until she nodded.
Then he came closer.
“I lost a baby and didn't even know.”
His eyes glistened.
“I’m sorry.”
“I hate him.”
It was the first time she said it.
Luca did not tell her hatred was wrong.
He simply stood beside her.
“I hate that he can make me feel this way.”
“That part won't last forever.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you're still you.”
Inside, investigators copied the basement records.
Victor agreed to cooperate.
He had committed crimes and would face consequences.
Adrian did not protect him.
Neither did Isabelle.
Family was not immunity.
Near dawn, Malik discovered the number impersonating Gabriel had been routed through a server belonging to one of Damien’s subsidiaries.
But the login belonged to someone else.
Vanessa Reyes.
Isabelle stared.
Vanessa had claimed she knew nothing.
They called her.
No answer.
Security checked Adrian’s townhouse.
She was gone.
On the guest-room bed lay a note.
I'M SORRY. HE HAS MY SISTER.
Malik looked up sharply.
“Vanessa has a sister?”
Theo was already searching.
“Yes. Sofia Reyes. Twenty-six. ICU nurse.”
“Where?”
Malik’s face changed.
“At the clinic where Isabelle was treated in 2019.”
Isabelle felt the room tilt.
Her phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived.
Vanessa was sitting in a car.
Someone held a hand against her shoulder from behind.
Below it:
BRING THE ORIGINAL TRUST DOCUMENTS. COME ALONE.
Then another message arrived.
It contained an address.
Isabelle recognized it immediately.
It was the abandoned clinic.
May you like
And beneath the address was a photograph taken only seconds earlier.
Damien was standing outside waiting for her.
