Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the Foundation
"Dad?"
Eliza's voice barely came out.
Robert Hartwell had been living in Arizona for five years.
At least that was what she believed.
He stepped down one stair.
His gray suit was immaculate.
His expression wasn't.
"Eliza, give me the case."
Adrian immediately moved in front of her.
Robert's eyes shifted toward him.
"This doesn't concern you, Vale."
Adrian's voice remained calm.
"It concerned me when you entered a secured building with an armed man."
Marcus laughed weakly.
"I'm not armed."
Adrian's security guard lifted a pistol from Marcus's waistband.
"Not anymore."
Daniel stared at his brother.
"What happened to you?"
Marcus pressed a hand against his bleeding side.
"Your friends happened."
"They aren't my friends."
"They were when you needed money."
Eliza looked at her father.
"Why are you here?"
Robert descended another step.
"Because your grandmother never understood when to stop."
"She's dead."
"And she's still destroying lives."
Eliza felt something inside her go cold.
"Your name is on the recording, isn't it?"
Robert's face didn't move.
Daniel turned toward him.
"What?"
Eliza remembered Eleanor's words.
Someone Eliza trusted.
Her father.
Robert had served on the Hartwell Foundation board for twenty-two years.
He had resigned shortly before Eleanor died.
"Grandma discovered you were moving money."
Robert sighed.
"This isn't a courtroom."
"No. It's worse. Here you actually have to answer me."
"Eliza."
"Did you steal from her foundation?"
Robert looked at the metal case.
"I redirected funds."
"That's a polite word for stealing."
"You don't understand what those funds accomplished."
"Explain."
"Businesses survived. People were paid. Influence was maintained."
Marcus laughed bitterly.
"Tell her the rest."
Robert shot him a look.
Marcus leaned against the wall.
"He doesn't like that part."
Daniel approached his brother.
"What rest?"
Marcus looked at Eliza.
"Your father wasn't working for Halston."
Robert snapped, "Stop talking."
Marcus grinned despite the blood.
"Halston was working for him."
Silence consumed the basement.
Eliza stared at her father.
The man who taught her to ride a bicycle.
The man who cried at her wedding.
The man who told her Daniel was "ambitious enough to deserve her."
"You controlled it?"
Robert's face hardened.
"I built it."
Daniel stepped backward.
Even he hadn't known.
Marcus continued.
"Shell companies. development funds. political donations. Your father designed the whole machine."
Robert lunged.
Adrian's men blocked him.
"Enough."
Eliza opened Eleanor's ledger.
Names suddenly made sense.
Robert's initials appeared beside transactions.
R.H.
The same initials she had overlooked as a child on foundation papers.
"Why did Grandma protect you?"
"She protected the family."
"She collected evidence against you."
"After she became confused."
"Don't you dare."
Robert's expression finally cracked.
"Your grandmother was idealistic. She believed the world operated according to rules."
"And you?"
"I believed rules were tools."
Eliza looked at Daniel.
"When did you know?"
"Tonight."
"That's a lie."
"About your father? I swear."
Marcus laughed again.
"Daniel lies even when the truth would be easier."
Daniel turned.
"Shut up."
"You want her to know why you married her?"
Eliza went still.
Daniel's face changed.
"Marcus."
There it was.
Fear.
The same fear from the ballroom.
Eliza asked, "Why did you marry me?"
Daniel stepped toward her.
"Because I loved you."
Marcus shook his head.
"Tell her where you first saw her."
Daniel's hands curled into fists.
"Don't."
"The foundation gala."
Eliza remembered.
Six years earlier.
A charity auction.
Daniel had approached her beside a painting and spilled champagne on his own sleeve while trying to introduce himself.
She had thought it was charming.
Marcus looked at her.
"He was there because Eleanor invited him."
Daniel snapped, "She invited half the city."
"She invited him after he brought her Halston's files."
Eliza stared.
"You already knew who I was."
"Yes."
Her heart sank.
"You pretended you didn't."
"I wanted a normal beginning."
Marcus snorted.
"Normal."
Daniel lunged toward him.
Adrian's men separated them.
"Tell her," Marcus said.
Daniel looked at Eliza.
Pain filled his face.
"I knew you were Eleanor Hartwell's granddaughter."
"Did you know about the trust?"
"No."
Robert answered.
"He didn't."
Everyone turned.
Robert smiled faintly.
"I did."
Eliza felt sick.
"You encouraged the marriage."
"Of course."
"Why?"
"Because I knew Eleanor trusted Daniel."
Daniel stared at him.
"You used me."
Robert shrugged.
"I gave you opportunities."
"You put me near Eliza."
"You were already interested in her."
Eliza looked between them.
Her marriage suddenly felt like a room where everyone else had seen the blueprints.
"Did you ever love me?"
Daniel's face collapsed.
"Yes."
Marcus muttered, "Eventually."
Daniel turned toward him.
"Shut your mouth."
Eliza raised one hand.
"No."
She looked at Daniel.
"Eventually?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
When he opened them, he looked older.
"I approached you because Eleanor asked me to attend the gala."
"That's not what I asked."
"No. The first night, I didn't know what I felt."
"And later?"
"I loved you."
"Then why were you ashamed of me tonight?"
Daniel said nothing.
Eliza's voice sharpened.
"That's the easiest question you've been asked."
He looked down.
"I wanted Halston's board to take me seriously."
"And my body threatened that?"
"I was stupid."
"No. You were cruel."
"Yes."
The word surprised her.
Daniel swallowed.
"I was cruel."
For the first time all night, he didn't defend himself.
"I spent years trying to become someone men like your father respected. I started believing their rules. Their rooms. Their judgments."
Eliza felt tears sting her eyes.
She refused to let them fall.
"And you made me pay for it."
"Yes."
Robert scoffed.
"Can we finish this domestic melodrama?"
Eliza turned toward him.
"You forged my signatures."
Robert smiled.
"No."
"Then who did?"
Marcus answered.
"I did two."
Daniel stared.
"Two?"
Marcus nodded toward Robert.
"He did the third."
Daniel's face drained.
"You told me you handled all three."
"I lied."
Robert looked bored.
"The distinction is irrelevant."
"It isn't to me," Eliza said.
Her father studied her.
"You've always had Eleanor's sentimentality."
"Good."
"It made her weak."
"No. It made her the only person here smart enough to leave evidence."
Robert's smile disappeared.
Adrian took the flash drive from the case.
"And plenty of it."
Robert looked at him.
"You think that drive can hurt me?"
"You're here, aren't you?"
A beat.
Adrian had hit something.
Robert stepped forward.
"Give it to me."
"No."
"Your father made arrangements with mine."
"My father is dead."
"Precisely."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"What does that mean?"
Robert smiled again.
"Ask your mother."
Sofia stiffened.
Adrian looked toward her.
For the first time that night, fear entered his face.
"Mother?"
Sofia said nothing.
Robert laughed softly.
"Apparently Eleanor wasn't the only woman who kept secrets."
Adrian walked toward Sofia.
"What arrangement?"
Sofia looked at her son.
"Adrian, not here."
"Now."
Her eyes filled with pain.
"Your father did not die in the car accident you were told about."
The basement went silent.
Adrian's face became unreadable.
"How did he die?"
Sofia looked at Robert.
Robert answered.
"Because he tried to leave."
Adrian moved so quickly that two security men grabbed him.
Eliza had never seen rage like it.
No shouting.
No wild movement.
Just something murderous appearing behind his eyes.
"Did you kill him?"
Robert didn't answer.
Adrian stepped closer.
"Did you kill my father?"
Sofia whispered, "Adrian."
He turned.
Sofia was crying.
"I did."
No one moved.
Adrian stared at his mother.
"What?"
"I pulled the trigger."
Robert smiled.
Adrian looked as though the floor had disappeared beneath him.
Sofia continued.
"But he asked me to."
Robert's smile faded.
Eliza felt the room tighten around them.
Sofia looked at the flash drive.
"Because Robert Hartwell was holding something over him."
Adrian's voice was barely audible.
"What?"
Sofia walked to the metal case and lifted the false bottom.
Beneath it was one last envelope.
She pulled it free.
On the front was Adrian's name.
The seal had never been broken.
Sofia handed it to him.
His fingers didn't move.
Eliza took one step closer.
"Adrian."
He finally opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Adrian stared at it.
Then at Robert.
His face lost all color.
Eliza reached for the photograph.
It showed Adrian's father standing beside Robert Hartwell twenty-five years earlier.
Between them stood a young woman.
Eliza recognized her instantly.
Eleanor.
But Eleanor wasn't what made Adrian freeze.
In her arms was a newborn baby.
May you like
On the back, one sentence had been written:
ADRIAN IS NOT A VALE.
