On the back was a list of four names.
WALTER GRAVES.
RACHEL KIM.
Next to three names were red marks.
Next to Elise's was a question mark.
Marcus stepped closer.
“This isn't a threat.”
“A selection.”
A red light blinked on the wall.
Daniel's eyes widened.
“Everyone out.”
“The backup generator is failing.”
The floor trembled.
Then an explosion shook the building.
Glass shattered across the hallway.
Elise hit the floor.
When she looked up, Daniel was gone.
Marcus was standing.
And in his hand was the missing envelope.
“You can't trust him,” Marcus said.
Then he opened it.
Inside was a single photograph of Elise's father holding a newborn baby.
On the back was one sentence.
MY DAUGHTER IS NOT ELISE.
Chapter 8
Elise stared at the photograph until the world seemed to stop.
“That isn't possible.”
Marcus didn't respond.
Daniel remained missing.
Rachel was missing.
Lena was missing.
And now the single sentence on the back of the photograph had shattered the last thing Elise believed she knew about herself.
“Who is the baby?”
Marcus looked at her.
“You're holding a photograph of my father with a baby and telling me you don't know?”
“I know your father had a second child.”
Elise shook her head.
“My mother never mentioned another child.”
“Your mother didn't know.”
Elise's chest tightened.
“Because the baby was born through a private arrangement.”
“Arrangement?”
“Your father used Bellwether to protect certain identities.”
“Why would he hide his own child?”
“Because that child had the controlling interest.”
A painful realization began forming.
“You're saying the trust was created for the baby.”
“Not me.”
“Then who?”
Marcus looked toward the shattered window.
“That's what Walter has spent nine years trying to find.”
Elise sat down.
She felt suddenly exhausted.
The entire history of Meridian seemed to be shifting under her feet.
A new sound came from the hallway.
Both turned.
Rachel Kim appeared.
Her suit was torn.
There was dried blood near her temple.
Elise rushed toward her.
“Rachel!”
Rachel grabbed the wall.
“Don't trust Marcus.”
Marcus lifted his gun.
Rachel raised a hand.
“Not because he's wrong.”
“Because he isn't telling you everything.”
“What happened to you?”
“I was taken from my house.”
“People working for Walter.”
“Where did they take you?”
“An old Meridian storage facility.”
“The Chicago one?”
Rachel nodded.
“The one we were told had been shut down.”
Elise's jaw tightened.
“What did you find?”
Rachel reached inside her jacket.
She pulled out a flash drive.
“Transactions.”
“Hundreds.”
“Connected to Northstar?”
“To Bellwether.”
Elise looked at Marcus.
Rachel continued.
“And to a trust account registered under your name.”
“My name?”
“For what?”
Rachel handed her the drive.
“That's what I haven't been able to understand.”
Elise took it.
Then Rachel looked at Marcus.
“You've known about this for years.”
Marcus said nothing.
“You've been using Cynthia to pressure Elise.”
“I was protecting her.”
“You created the 2A incident.”
Marcus finally looked at her.
Her voice was cold.
“You arranged for Cynthia to take my seat?”
“To test me?”
“You let the flight attendant threaten to remove me.”
“I didn't know the attendant would go that far.”
“You humiliated me.”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
“I needed to know whether you'd fight.”
“You could have asked.”
“You wouldn't have believed me.”
“No,” Elise said. “I wouldn't.”
Marcus's face tightened.
Rachel stepped between them.
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
It was coming from Rachel's coat.
She reached inside.
The caller ID showed Walter Graves.
Rachel answered.
His voice came through.
“Where is Elise?”
Rachel looked at her.
“She’s here.”
“I need her alive.”
Elise stepped closer.
Walter paused.
Then said something that made every person in the room go still.
“Because the transfer was never supposed to go to Northstar.”
Elise's eyes narrowed.
“Where was it supposed to go?”
“Bellwether.”
Rachel's face drained of color.
“That account doesn't exist anymore.”
Walter laughed softly.
“Oh, Rachel.”
“It was closed.”
“It was transferred.”
“To whom?”
Walter answered.
“To Elise Morgan.”
“I don't have a Bellwether account.”
“You've had one since birth.”
No one spoke.
Rachel looked at Elise.
Marcus looked at Elise.
For the first time, they seemed afraid of the same person.
Her.
Elise plugged the drive into her laptop.
The files loaded.
One folder was marked:
BENEFICIARY.
She clicked it.
A single name appeared.
NOT ELISE MORGAN.
Then another file opened automatically.
A birth certificate.
The mother's name was blacked out.
The father's name was:
THOMAS MORGAN.
Elise's father.
The child:
EMMA MORGAN.
Elise stopped breathing.
The screen suddenly flashed red.
ACCESS REVOKED.
Then every file disappeared.
Someone had remotely wiped the drive.
Except one image remained.
A current photograph.
A young woman, approximately twenty-five years old.
Standing outside a Meridian branch in Boston.
Underneath it was a name.
And a message.
SHE HAS NO IDEA WHO SHE IS.
Chapter 9
The next morning, Walter Graves called every director of Meridian Capital into an emergency session.
The meeting was scheduled for 8:00 a.m.
At 7:57, Elise walked into the boardroom.
Cynthia was already there.
So was Daniel.
“I was never dead.”
“That wasn't the question.”
Elise turned toward the chairman.
Walter smiled.
“This has become unnecessarily personal.”
“Someone tried to destroy my company.”
“Your company?”
Elise laughed bitterly.
“My company.”
Walter nodded.
“That's exactly the problem.”
Rachel entered behind Elise.
Marcus followed.
The entire board erupted.
“Who is that?”
“Security!”
“Get him out!”
Walter raised a hand.
Everyone stopped.
Elise watched him.
“You know him.”
Walter's eyes moved to Marcus.
“I know exactly who he is.”
“Then say it.”
Walter looked around the room.
“Marcus Hale was a Meridian trader accused of fraud nine years ago.”
“False accusation,” Marcus said.