“From what?”
“From the board.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Which board?”
“The original board.”
Elise's voice cracked.
“My father founded Meridian.”
“Yes.”
“And Bellwether owns part of Meridian?”
Arthur nodded.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It controls voting rights.”
Elise stared at him.
“Who controls Bellwether?”
Arthur didn't answer.
Daniel suddenly stepped between them.
“Elise, we need to go.”
Arthur looked at Daniel.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
Arthur pointed at him.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Daniel froze.
Elise turned.
“What?”
Arthur was breathing hard.
“Marcus discovered Daniel's name in the trust documents.”
Daniel's face went white.
“No.”
Arthur continued.
“Not Daniel Price.”
Elise stared.
“What does that mean?”
“Daniel Price is not his real name.”
The tunnel became silent.
Daniel backed away.
“That man was killed.”
Arthur shook his head.
“No. He disappeared.”
Elise looked between them.
“Daniel?”
He didn't answer.
“Tell me.”
Still nothing.
Then Daniel pulled his phone from his coat.
He looked at Elise.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“When?”
“After I knew who was behind it.”
“You've been lying to me.”
“I've been protecting you.”
“You used another name.”
“Because the name in the trust was tied to people who would've killed me.”
Elise stepped back.
“You knew about Bellwether.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Marcus.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“And Cynthia?”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
Elise’s voice became barely audible.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Daniel looked at Arthur.
Arthur whispered, “Tell her.”
Daniel finally spoke.
“Marcus didn't die.”
Elise stared at him.
“He survived the crash.”
Her knees weakened.
“He was hidden.”
“Where?”
Daniel looked down.
“I don't know.”
Arthur shook his head.
“I do.”
A sound came from the tunnel behind them.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Approaching.
Arthur's face drained of color.
“He found us.”
Elise turned.
A man emerged from the darkness.
Older.
Thin.
Scar across his cheek.
Cynthia Hale's brother.
Marcus.
Alive.
Elise could not speak.
Marcus Hale stood ten feet away, breathing hard, looking at her as though he had spent years imagining the moment.
“You look like him.”
Elise swallowed.
“My father?”
Marcus nodded.
“He talked about you constantly.”
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because dead men are harder to kill.”
Daniel stepped forward.
Marcus immediately raised a gun.
Elise froze.
“No.”
Marcus's eyes stayed on Daniel.
“You brought him.”
“He's with me.”
“He was always with someone.”
Daniel stopped.
“Marcus.”
“Don't say my name.”
Cynthia appeared behind him.
She looked at Elise.
“I told you.”
Elise felt something close to anger.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me walk into that airport while you knew all of this.”
“I needed to know whether you were still working for them.”
“For whom?”
Marcus lowered the gun.
“The people who built Meridian.”
Elise stared.
“Tell me everything.”
Marcus glanced at Arthur.
Arthur nodded.
Marcus began.
“Your father discovered that Meridian had a hidden capital structure.”
“Elaborate.”
“Money entered through legitimate investors. Then it moved through shell companies. Some of it financed hostile acquisitions. Some funded political influence. Some disappeared.”
Daniel added, “And some was used to create synthetic ownership.”
Elise looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“People who officially owned nothing controlled everything.”
Marcus nodded.
“Bellwether was created to protect your father's shares.”
“From the board?”
“From a specific person.”
“Who?”
Marcus's eyes narrowed.
“Walter Graves.”
Elise felt a sudden wave of nausea.
“The chairman?”
“He wasn't always chairman.”
“What was he?”
“Your father's attorney.”
Elise looked at Daniel.
“And my father trusted him?”
“Until the end.”
Marcus pulled out a small drive.
“Your father recorded a conversation.”
He handed it to Elise.
She stared at the tiny device.
“What’s on it?”
“The reason he died.”
Before Elise could connect it, her phone rang.
Lena.
Elise answered.
“Elise?”
Lena was whispering.
“I made a mistake.”
“What happened?”
“I told them where the drive was.”
Elise's heart sank.
“Who?”
“I thought they were going after my daughter.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at your office.”
“What?”
A sound crashed in the background.
Then Lena screamed.
The call ended.
Elise started moving.
Marcus grabbed her arm.
“No.”
“My assistant is in the building.”
“That building is compromised.”
“I don't care.”
“You should.”
Elise ripped her arm free.
“You don't get to tell me who I save.”
Marcus stared at her.
Then he lowered the gun.
“I'll come with you.”
Daniel followed.
Arthur stayed behind.
“Arthur!”
He shook his head.
“Someone has to protect the records.”
Elise hesitated.
Then she ran.
By the time they reached Meridian, the lobby was empty.
The elevators were frozen.
Sprinklers had activated.
Water poured from the ceiling.
They took the stairs.
On the executive floor, Lena's office door hung open.
She was gone.
Her desk had been overturned.
Her daughter's photograph lay shattered on the floor.
Elise bent down.
Behind the frame was another note.
YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE WRONG TRAITOR.
She turned it over.
On the back was a list of four names.
WALTER GRAVES.
DANIEL PRICE.
RACHEL KIM.
ELISE MORGAN.
Next to three names were red marks.
Next to Elise's was a question mark.
Marcus stepped closer.
“This isn't a threat.”
“What is it?”
“A selection.”
A red light blinked on the wall.
Daniel's eyes widened.
“Everyone out.”
“What?”
“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.
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.
“I don't know.”
“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.
“How?”
“Because the baby was born through a private arrangement.”
“Arrangement?”
Marcus nodded.
“Your father used Bellwether to protect certain identities.”
“Why would he hide his own child?”
“Because that child had the controlling interest.”
Elise stared at him.
A painful realization began forming.
“You're saying the trust was created for the baby.”
“Yes.”
“Not me.”
“No.”
“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.
Footsteps.
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.”
She looked at Elise.
“Because he isn't telling you everything.”
Elise stared.
“What happened to you?”
“I was taken from my house.”
“By whom?”
“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.”
“How many?”
“Hundreds.”
“Connected to Northstar?”
“To Bellwether.”
Elise looked at Marcus.
Rachel continued.
“And to a trust account registered under your name.”
“My name?”
“Yes.”
“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.