Chương 10
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he meet her?”
“We found no evidence he did.”
“Did Vale?”
“Yes.”
Maya’s head lifted.
“What?”
Aaron looked at her.
“Vale met your mother.”
Maya stared.
“When?”
“About six months after Richard Carter hired him.”
“Where?”
“Phoenix.”
“My mother lived in Tucson.”
“At that time she was in Phoenix for three days.”
“How do you know?”
“Hotel records were attached to an expense report.”
Maya’s breathing became uneven.
“Was I there?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Aaron.
“What happened in that meeting?”
“No recording.”
“Notes?”
“None that survived.”
“Then what do you know?”
“Vale returned to Chicago.”
Aaron paused.
“Your father increased the retainer two days later.”
Daniel looked away.
Maya whispered, “My mother knew.”
Aaron said nothing.
“She had to.”
“Yes.”
“She knew Richard Carter was looking for me.”
“Probably.”
“And she never told me.”
“No.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Daniel looked at her.
For the first time since the truth began unraveling, his anger toward her loosened enough to leave room for something else.
Not forgiveness.
Recognition.
Maya opened her eyes again.
“What happened after Richard died?”
Aaron shifted his weight.
“Northline kept paying Vale.”
Daniel turned.
“Who authorized it?”
“That’s where the records become strange.”
“How strange?”
“The account had instructions set up in advance.”
“Automatic transfers?”
“Partly.”
Aaron rubbed one thumb against the side of his index finger.
“Your father created a trust mechanism.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What kind?”
“I’m not a trust attorney.”
“Neither am I.”
“It appears Northline received funds from an estate-controlled account under specific conditions.”
“What conditions?”
“We never got the underlying trust language.”
“Then how do you know there were conditions?”
“Because the transfers weren’t scheduled by date.”
Maya looked at him.
“What triggered them?”
“Events.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“What events?”
Aaron looked at Maya.
“One transfer occurred when she graduated college.”
Maya went still.
Aaron continued.
“Another when she changed addresses.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“How would the trust know that?”
“It wouldn’t.”
“So someone was reporting.”
“Yes.”
“Vale.”
“Most likely.”
Maya’s voice was barely audible.
“He was watching me before I worked for him.”
“Yes.”
She looked toward the bassinet.
The baby slept on, one cheek pressed against the blanket.
Maya stared at him as if anchoring herself.
Daniel said, “What was the final trigger?”
Aaron looked at him.
“Your move back to Chicago.”
Daniel frowned.
“That was five years after Dad died.”
“Yes.”
“And that released money?”
“Yes.”
“To Vale?”
“Through Northline.”
“For what?”
Aaron looked at Maya.
“To create contact between the two of you.”
Daniel went pale.
“So that payment labeled relationship development.”
“Yes.”
Maya shook her head.
“No.”
Aaron looked at her.
“Caleb thought the same thing.”
“No, I mean no.”
Maya’s voice strengthened.
“That wasn’t the first plan.”
Aaron’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“Vale didn’t originally assign me.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
Maya stared at a point beyond Aaron’s shoulder.
“When I first saw Daniel’s file, it wasn’t mine.”
Aaron went very still.
“Whose was it?”
“Melissa Grant.”
Aaron’s expression changed for the first time.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Daniel caught it.
“You know that name.”
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
Aaron did not answer immediately.
Maya looked at him.
“Aaron.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“Melissa worked for Vale before you.”
“I know.”
“She left.”
“I thought she was fired.”
“That was the story.”
Daniel stepped between them slightly.
“What happened to her?”
Aaron looked at him.
“She refused the Carter assignment.”
Maya’s eyes widened.
“Why?”
“Because she recognized your father’s name.”
Daniel’s voice turned flat.
“From where?”
Aaron looked toward the door, then back.
“Her father lost money in the Lakeshore fraud.”
Daniel stared at him.
“And?”
“She believed Richard Carter was responsible.”
“My father was never charged.”
“People can believe things without indictments.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What did Melissa do?”
“She copied the file.”
“Why?”
“To take it to an attorney.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Aaron’s eyes shifted to Maya.
“Because before she could, someone broke into her apartment.”
Maya’s fingers tightened against the sheet.
“Was she hurt?”
“No.”
“What was taken?”
“Only the file.”
Daniel looked at Aaron.
“That sounds very convenient.”
“It did to Melissa too.”
“What happened after?”
“She quit.”
“And Vale replaced her with Maya.”
“Yes.”
Maya shook her head.
“I applied two weeks later.”
“Yes.”
“You’re saying they were waiting for me.”
“I’m saying your application arrived at exactly the moment Vale needed someone with your name to approach Daniel.”
The monitor beside Maya sped up.
Daniel heard it and looked toward the screen.
Maya’s breathing had become shallow.
“Slow down.”
She glared at him.
“Don’t tell me to slow down.”
“I mean your breathing.”
“I know what you mean.”
Daniel moved closer to the bed.
Maya looked at Aaron.
“Why me?”
Aaron’s face tightened.
“That’s the part Caleb finally found.”
Daniel turned toward him.
“You said he disappeared before solving it.”
“He disappeared before telling Maya.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Aaron reached inside his jacket one more time.
This time he removed a small envelope.
The paper was yellowed at the corners.
He held it between two fingers.
“Three weeks ago, Caleb Mercer mailed this to me.”
Maya stared at the envelope.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You said he disappeared five years ago.”
“He did.”
“So he’s alive.”
Aaron looked at Maya.
“I don’t know.”
“You got a letter.”
“I got an envelope postmarked from Reno with no return address.”
“When?”
“Twenty-one days ago.”
“What was inside?”
Aaron looked at Daniel.
“A copy of a birth certificate.”
Maya’s eyes moved to the envelope.
“Whose?”
Aaron held her gaze.
“Yours.”
Maya did not reach for the envelope.
For several seconds, she only looked at it.
Daniel was the one who finally took it from Aaron.
The paper crackled in his hand.
“Did you open it?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you did.”
Aaron ignored the accusation.
“There was a note inside.”
“What did it say?”
“Read the certificate first.”
May you like
Daniel unfolded the document.
The copy was old enough that the typed letters had softened around the edges.
