“You disappeared.”
“I was forced to.”
“You were declared dead.”
“Because you wanted me dead.”
The room went silent.
Walter looked at Elise.
“Ask your father.”
“My father is dead.”
Elise stepped forward.
“I worked for him.”
“You knew about the child.”
Walter's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Elise caught it.
Walter leaned back.
“Your father made many mistakes.”
“Was Emma one of them?”
Cynthia turned sharply.
Walter didn't answer.
Elise's voice hardened.
“Is Emma Morgan your daughter?”
“Then whose daughter is she?”
Walter's silence became an answer.
Daniel suddenly spoke.
“Elise, don't.”
She looked at him.
“Because there are things you still don't know.”
“I am tired of hearing that sentence.”
Daniel walked to the center of the room.
“My real name is Daniel Morgan.”
Rachel whispered, “No.”
Daniel continued.
“I changed it after the crash.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“You were there.”
“With Thomas.”
Daniel nodded.
Elise's voice disappeared.
“I was his financial architect.”
“You knew about Emma.”
“Where is she?”
“You should ask who has been protecting her.”
Walter looked at Cynthia.
Cynthia's face hardened.
“Don't.”
Walter continued.
“Cynthia Hale.”
Cynthia closed her eyes.
“He knows.”
“I've been protecting Emma for years.”
Elise felt betrayed.
“You knew she existed.”
“You knew she was my sister.”
“And you lied to me.”
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
Walter stood.
He pressed a button.
The screens behind him turned on.
A bank statement appeared.
Four hundred and eighty million dollars.
Transfer date: the night of Flight 247.
Origin: Meridian Treasury.
Destination: Bellwether Trust.
Beneficiary: Elise Morgan.
The board erupted.
“Elise authorized it!”
“She has motive!”
“She stands to control the trust!”
“She needs to resign!”
Elise stared at the screen.
“I didn't authorize this.”
“Perhaps not knowingly.”
Rachel rushed toward the screen.
“Wait.”
She zoomed in.
The authorization signature appeared.
Then the digital facial verification.
Elise's face.
But the timestamp showed 9:03 p.m.
Elise was visibly at the airport at 9:03.
Rachel whispered, “It's impossible.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“This isn't facial recognition.”
“Biometric reconstruction.”
“Explain.”
“Someone generated a digital version of your identity using old verification data.”
“Can that pass the system?”
“It shouldn't.”
“But it did.”
Daniel looked toward Walter.
“Who had access to the reconstruction engine?”
Walter said nothing.
Rachel's face went white.
“You did.”
“And so did Rachel.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Rachel froze.
Walter pressed another button.
Security footage appeared.
Rachel entering a restricted server room three days earlier.
The timestamp was clear.
Elise looked at her lawyer.
“Rachel?”
“I didn't go there to steal anything.”
“Then why?”
“To erase something.”
Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
“Your father's final file.”
Elise stepped toward her.
“What was in it?”
Rachel whispered.
“The name of the person who ordered the crash.”
Before she could say more, every light in the boardroom went out.
Emergency lights flashed.
Then the building shook.
A gunshot cracked through the hallway.
Everyone screamed.
The doors slammed open.
A security guard fell into the room.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
He pointed toward Elise.
“Don't trust…”
He collapsed.
Then Walter's private phone rang.
His face changed completely.
“What do you mean she's here?”
The sound came from the hallway.
A woman entered.
Young.
Dark hair.
Pale face.
Twenty-five, perhaps.
She looked directly at Elise.
And whispered:
“Are you the woman who stole my father's company?”
Chapter 10
The woman in the doorway was trembling.
But she didn't look afraid.
She looked angry.
Elise couldn't speak.
Emma Morgan stood beneath the emergency lights, gripping a small canvas bag against her side.
Cynthia rushed toward her.
“Emma.”
Emma stepped back.
“Listen to me.”
“You lied to me too.”
Cynthia stopped.
Elise felt the room closing in around them.
“Emma,” she said carefully, “who told you about me?”
Emma looked at Walter.
“He did.”
Walter was smiling.
“You manipulated her.”
“I introduced her to the truth.”
“You fabricated the transfer.”
“You exposed her identity.”
“Then what did you do?”
Walter's smile disappeared.
“I stopped hiding her.”
Emma looked confused.
Elise immediately softened her voice.
“Emma, your father was Thomas Morgan.”
“Did he ever tell you about me?”
“Did he tell you about Bellwether?”
“Did he tell you why he disappeared?”
Emma swallowed.
“He told me never to trust Meridian.”
Elise felt pain rise in her chest.
“He was trying to protect you.”
“That’s what everyone says.”
Emma took a step forward.
“Then why did he leave me?”
No one answered.
Finally Marcus spoke.
“Because he believed staying would get you killed.”
Emma looked at him.
“You lied too.”
Emma laughed bitterly.
“So everyone knew.”
“Why did you hide her?”
Cynthia's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Marcus asked me to.”
Marcus lowered his head.
“I thought Bellwether was being watched.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“That part was true.”
Elise looked at her.
“Then tell me the rest.”
Rachel held up the remaining drive.
“I recovered one file before the system wiped the others.”
She connected it to the boardroom computer.
A recording appeared.
Thomas Morgan sat behind a desk.
He looked younger.
Tired.
Afraid.
Her father's voice filled the room.
“If you're watching this, Bellwether has been compromised.”
Thomas looked directly into the camera.
“Elise cannot know about Emma.”
Elise's breath stopped.
“Not until she's old enough to protect herself.”
Thomas continued.
“The controlling shares were placed in Bellwether under both daughters' names. Elise believes Meridian belongs to her. It doesn't.”
Elise looked at Emma.
Emma looked back.
Thomas's voice continued.
“The company belongs to the trust.”
Walter spoke from across the room.
“That's old information.”
Rachel ignored him.
The recording continued.
“But whoever controls the trust controls Meridian.”
Then Thomas leaned closer.
“There is one person I never trusted.”