Chapter 5 - The Man Who Wanted Her EmpireVale contacted Vivian three days later.
He invited her to a private office on Wall Street.
She went alone.
He greeted her with a smile.
“You've become very successful.”
“I was successful before you noticed.”
He laughed.
“I like you.”
“I don't care.”
“That's why I like you.”
He poured two glasses of water.
Vivian didn't sit.
“What do you want?”
“Cross Meridian.”
“No.”
“I'll pay you four hundred and seventy-five million.”
“No.”
“Five hundred.”
“No.”
“Six.”
“Stop.”
He smiled.
“Why?”
“Because it's not for sale.”
He leaned forward.
“You think this is about money.”
“It's not?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Control.”
Vivian's expression hardened.
“You tried to take Blackwell.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Ethan was weak.”
“Ethan isn't yours to judge.”
“He will be.”
“How?”
“I have something you don't.”
“What?”
He smiled.
“Your mother's records.”
Vivian froze.
He noticed.
“You know who she was?”
“Yes.”
“What records?”
“Transactions.”
“From when?”
“Before you were born.”
Vivian stared.
“What does she have to do with you?”
Vale shook his head.
“Not me.”
“Then who?”
“Your father.”
Her heart stopped.
Vivian's father had died when she was nineteen.
Heart failure.
At least, that was what she believed.
“What are you saying?”
“Your father didn't die naturally.”
She didn't move.
“He was killed.”
“By whom?”
Vale smiled.
“That's what you can find in your mother's records.”
“You have them.”
“Yes.”
“Give them to me.”
“Sell me Cross Meridian.”
“No.”
He sighed.
“You're stubborn.”
“So I've been told.”
He handed her a card.
“When you're ready.”
Vivian left.
Daniel was waiting outside.
“What happened?”
She handed him the card.
“Vale knows about my father.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“That's impossible.”
“I thought so.”
She returned to her office.
For the first time in decades, she opened the box of family records.
Her mother's letters.
Old bank statements.
A photograph.
And one envelope Vivian had never opened.
It was addressed to her.
To Vivian, if I am no longer here to explain.
She broke the seal.
Inside was a letter.
Your father knew someone was moving money through the freight industry.
He tried to expose them.
They threatened you.
He chose to disappear rather than put you at risk.
Vivian's hands shook.
Disappear.
Her father hadn't died.
He had vanished.
Or someone wanted her to believe he had.
She read further.
Ethan Blackwell's father knew.
Vivian stopped.
Her husband’s father?
The old man had died years ago.
But if he knew about her father's disappearance, then Ethan might have inherited more than a company.
He might have inherited a secret.
Vivian called Ethan.
He answered immediately.
“Vivian?”
“Did your father know Samuel Cross?”
Silence.
“How do you know that name?”
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I remember hearing the name.”
“What did he say?”
“That Samuel was dangerous.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
Her whole childhood had been built on a lie.
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“My father may be alive.”
He went silent.
“I'm coming over.”
“No.”
“Vivian—”
“I need to investigate this myself.”
“Then let me help.”
She hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because I owe you.”
“No.”
“Because I loved your father too.”
She froze.
“What?”
Ethan's voice broke.
“My father told me once that Samuel Cross was the only honest man he ever knew.”
Vivian sat down.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“I know.”
“Then what happened?”
“I'll find out.”
They met at the old Blackwell estate the next morning.
Ethan opened a hidden cabinet in his father's study.
Inside was a file.
Samuel Cross.
Vivian stared.
There were photographs.
Her father.
Ethan's father.
Nathaniel Vale.
And another man.
Warren Hale.
Vivian's face went cold.
“Warren knew.”
“Yes.”
“He was stealing from you.”
“He was part of it.”
“Then this goes back twenty years.”
Ethan nodded.
“What was my father involved in?”
“He wasn't involved.”
Ethan looked at the files.
“He was investigating.”
“Investigating what?”
“Money laundering through shipping contracts.”
Vivian stared.
“And Vale?”
“Vale financed it.”
She turned another page.
A transfer.
A date.
The day her father disappeared.
Recipient:
BLACKWELL PRIVATE HOLDINGS.
Vivian looked at Ethan.
“Your company paid him.”
Ethan's face went pale.
“My company.”
“No.”
She pointed to the date.
“Your father.”
May you like
He swallowed.
“My father paid someone to make your father disappear.”
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