Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Blue Dress
Beatrice entered her apartment at 5:42 the next morning wearing the same royal-blue dress.
Bastion hated the plan.
He had said so nine times.
She had counted.
"Ten," she said.
"What?"
"That's the tenth time you've told me this is reckless."
"Because it is."
"Then stop repeating yourself."
Bastion stood beside the door.
Daniel had explained the trust transfer.
Julian had forced him to authorize it by threatening Daniel's daughter.
The twelve million wasn't part of Julian's theft.
It was bait.
Every person involved had been manipulated differently.
Adrian through fear.
Daniel through family.
Nathan through disappearance.
Bastion through loyalty.
Beatrice through curiosity.
That last one bothered her most.
Someone had known exactly what she would do.
Give Beatrice Abbott an inconsistency and tell her to ignore it, and she would tear through concrete to understand it.
Her apartment looked untouched.
Bastion checked every room.
"No one's here."
"They were."
"How do you know?"
Beatrice pointed at her bookshelf.
One book had been moved.
Nathan had given it to her years earlier.
An old accounting textbook.
Bastion removed it.
Inside was an envelope.
BEA.
Only Nathan called her that.
Her fingers trembled.
She opened it.
One handwritten page.
Bea,
If you're reading this, Julian finally made his move.
I'm sorry.
I should have told you years ago.
I thought disappearing would protect everyone.
It only gave him time.
Don't trust the beneficiary record.
It was designed to point toward Adrian.
The real account is hidden where I taught you to look when the numbers become too perfect.
—N
Beatrice read it twice.
Bastion watched her.
"Alive?"
"At least when he wrote this."
"When?"
She examined the paper.
"No date."
Bastion looked around the apartment.
"Could have been placed recently."
"Yes."
She sat.
For the first time all night, exhaustion reached her.
Bastion remained standing.
"Where did he teach you to look?"
She closed her eyes.
Nathan's voice returned from thirteen years earlier.
When numbers become too perfect, stop looking at the numbers.
Look at what's missing.
Beatrice opened her eyes.
"The zeroes."
"What?"
"The shell companies."
She grabbed her laptop.
Twenty-three companies.
But Mercer had twenty-four major operational divisions.
One was absent.
Mercer Foundation.
The charitable organization.
She searched.
Nothing.
Too clean.
Beatrice smiled.
"There you are."
Hidden beneath the foundation's archived records was another trust.
Not millions.
Only $1.
Bastion frowned.
"One dollar?"
"A marker."
"For what?"
"Ownership."
The one-dollar transaction connected to a dormant legal entity.
Beatrice opened it.
Her smile disappeared.
Bastion read beside her.
MERCER HOLDINGS VOTING TRUST.
If activated, the trust could temporarily control a majority of the company's voting rights.
"This isn't about money," Beatrice whispered.
"It's about the company."
Julian wanted Bastion removed.
The forty million funded the infrastructure.
The real objective was control.
But one question remained.
"How does he activate it?"
Beatrice searched the trust agreement.
Three signatures were required.
Julian Mercer.
Adrian Vale.
And—
She stopped.
"Bastion."
He read the third name.
Nathan Cole.
Bastion stared.
"That's why Nathan is alive."
"And why Julian needs Adrian."
Beatrice stood.
"If Nathan signs, Julian controls Mercer."
"He won't."
"Unless Julian has something Nathan wants."
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Bastion looked at her.
She answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a voice she had not heard in eight years.
"Bea."
Her knees almost failed.
"Nathan?"
Bastion moved closer.
Nathan sounded older.
Tired.
But alive.
"I'm sorry."
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"You let me think you were dead."
"I know."
"Eight years."
"I know."
Her anger cracked.
"You don't get to say that."
"Julian has Adrian."
"We know."
"And Tomas."
"We know."
"Then you know what he wants."
"The trust."
Silence.
Nathan breathed.
"Listen carefully. Julian thinks he needs my signature."
"Doesn't he?"
"No."
Beatrice frowned.
"What does he need?"
"You."
Everything inside her stopped.
"Me?"
"When I created the trust protections, I named a successor forensic custodian."
Bastion understood first.
"Beatrice."
Nathan continued.
"Your signature can replace mine."
She felt sick.
Julian had not stumbled across her audit.
He had guided her into it.
The discrepancies.
The shell companies.
The forty million.
The photographs.
Everything had been designed to bring Beatrice to Bastion.
"Why me?"
"Because I trusted you."
"You should have asked."
"I know."
"Stop saying that!"
Bastion touched her shoulder.
The gesture was light.
She steadied herself.
Nathan whispered, "Julian knows you're with Bastion."
"Where are you?"
"Bea—"
"Where?"
A sound interrupted him.
A door.
Nathan's breathing changed.
Then another voice came onto the call.
Smooth.
Male.
"Ms. Abbott."
Bastion took the phone.
"Julian."
A soft laugh.
"Little brother."
Beatrice watched Bastion become still.
Julian spoke for several seconds.
Then Bastion said, "No."
More words.
Bastion's eyes moved toward Beatrice.
His face changed.
"What?" she whispered.
Julian continued.
Bastion ended the call.
"What did he say?"
Nothing.
"Bastion."
"He wants you."
"I gathered that."
"At noon."
"Where?"
He looked at her.
"Mercer Tower."
"And if I don't come?"
Bastion hesitated.
"He signs for you."
"How?"
"He has documents prepared."
"Forgery won't survive scrutiny."
"Not if you're alive to challenge it."
The meaning settled between them.
Beatrice stared at him.
"So I go."
"No."
"We don't have another option."
"We'll find one."
"Before noon?"
"Yes."
"You can't promise that."
"I can promise you're not walking into that building."
She folded her arms.
"You don't decide for me."
"This time I do."
"No, Bastion."
He stepped closer.
The apartment suddenly felt smaller.
"I almost watched someone drive a car through you tonight. Men chased you through an alley two days ago. Someone followed you for weeks. And now my brother is demanding that I deliver you to him."
His voice dropped.
"I'm done pretending this is only business."
Beatrice's anger disappeared.
Something else replaced it.
"Bastion..."
"No."
His gaze held hers.
She had never seen him look uncertain before.
That frightened her more than his anger ever had.
He unlocked her apartment door.
Then stopped.
A white envelope had been pushed underneath it.
Neither of them had heard anyone approach.
Bastion picked it up.
Inside was a single hotel keycard.
And a note.
ROOM 2407. COME WITHOUT BASTION.
Beatrice turned the card over.
May you like
On the back, Nathan had written one sentence by hand:
BEA, THERE'S SOMETHING I NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT HIM...
