“You've been using Cynthia to pressure Elise.”
“I was protecting her.”
“You created the 2A incident.”
Elise's head snapped up.
“What?”
Marcus finally looked at her.
“Yes.”
Her voice was cold.
“You arranged for Cynthia to take my seat?”
“Yes.”
“To test me?”
“Yes.”
“You let the flight attendant threaten to remove me.”
“I didn't know the attendant would go that far.”
Elise stared at him.
“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.
“Enough.”
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
It was coming from Rachel's coat.
She reached inside.
The caller ID showed Walter Graves.
Rachel answered.
“Walter.”
His voice came through.
“Where is Elise?”
Rachel looked at her.
“She’s here.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“I need her alive.”
Elise stepped closer.
“Why?”
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.”
“No.”
A pause.
“It was transferred.”
“To whom?”
Walter answered.
“To Elise Morgan.”
Elise shook her head.
“I don't have a Bellwether account.”
“You've had one since birth.”
The call ended.
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.
EMMA MORGAN.
And a message.
SHE HAS NO IDEA WHO SHE IS.
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.
Elise stopped.
“You're alive.”
Daniel stood.
“I was never dead.”
“That wasn't the question.”
He looked exhausted.
“I was taken.”
“By whom?”
“Walter.”
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.
“No.”
Everyone stopped.
Elise watched him.
“You know him.”
Walter's eyes moved to Marcus.
“I know exactly who he is.”
Cynthia stood.
“Then say it.”
Walter looked around the room.
“Marcus Hale was a Meridian trader accused of fraud nine years ago.”
“False accusation,” Marcus said.
“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.”
“Exactly.”
Elise stepped forward.
“You knew him.”
“I worked for him.”
“You knew about Bellwether.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the child.”
Walter's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Elise caught it.
“You knew.”
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?”
“No.”
“Then whose daughter is she?”
Walter's silence became an answer.
Daniel suddenly spoke.
“Elise, don't.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“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.”
Elise stared.
Rachel whispered, “No.”
Daniel continued.
“I changed it after the crash.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“With Thomas.”
Daniel nodded.
Elise's voice disappeared.
“You knew my father.”
“I was his financial architect.”
“You knew about Bellwether.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Emma.”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Walter smiled.
“You should ask who has been protecting her.”
Elise turned.
“Who?”
Walter looked at Cynthia.
Cynthia's face hardened.
“Don't.”
Walter continued.
“Cynthia Hale.”
Elise stared.
Cynthia closed her eyes.
“He knows.”
“What?”
“I've been protecting Emma for years.”
Elise felt betrayed.
“You knew she existed.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was my sister.”
“Yes.”
“And you lied to me.”
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
Walter stood.
“Enough.”
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.”
Walter smiled.
“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.
“No.”
“What?”
“This isn't facial recognition.”
“What is it?”
“Biometric reconstruction.”
Elise turned.
“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.”
Walter smiled.
“And so did Rachel.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Rachel froze.
“I didn't.”
Walter pressed another button.
Security footage appeared.
Rachel entering a restricted server room three days earlier.
The timestamp was clear.
The room went silent.
Elise looked at her lawyer.
“Rachel?”
“I didn't go there to steal anything.”
“Then why?”
“To erase something.”
“What?”
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.
He answered.
His face changed completely.
“What do you mean she's here?”
Elise stared.
The sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
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?”
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.
“No.”
“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.”
Elise turned toward him.
Walter was smiling.
“You manipulated her.”
“I introduced her to the truth.”
“You fabricated the transfer.”
“No.”
“You exposed her identity.”
“No.”
“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.”
“Yes.”
“Did he ever tell you about me?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you about Bellwether?”
“No.”
“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.