Chapter 10 - MY BROTHER'S VOICE
I put it on speaker.
"Dad?" Vanessa said.
"You knew Mom saved Amelia."
"Yes."
"You lied about how she died."
"I protected you."
"From what?"
"From knowing what she became."
"Claire chose Amelia over her family."
"She chose a woman you imprisoned."
"Amelia was unstable."
"You drugged me."
"I kept you alive."
"You stole seven years."
"I prevented a civil war inside the company."
Nathan said if we went there, files would be released showing Vanessa approved Blue Meridian contracts.
She would go to prison with him.
"I signed them."
"I know."
"I didn't understand."
"That matters. It doesn't erase it."
"You see? She'll sacrifice you."
"No, Dad. You already did."
We drove to Bellmont House.
The property sat above the ocean, boarded and rotting.
Inside, Claire's old mural still covered the lobby wall.
I touched the painted sun.
"Never put the real safe behind the painting. That's where thieves look."
Across the lobby stood the original front desk.
Under it, carved into wood, were the initials A.B.
I pressed the medallion into the carving. A compartment opened.
Inside was the Blue Meridian certificate.
Raymond Pike - 40%.
Nathan Bellmont - 40%.
Elias Crane - 10%.
Claire Bellmont - 10%.
Vanessa stared. "My mother?"
"Maybe not willingly."
Claire had bought ten percent to access the books and document the fraud.
Then Ethan found a second envelope.
AMELIA, IF YOU SURVIVE, ETHAN DID NOT BETRAY YOU.
THE PERSON WHO DID IS STILL ON YOUR BOARD.
May you like
And Claire had written a name.
Rachel Wynn.
