Chapter 3 - The Sister With Two Faces
Elsie refused to believe it.
She spent the next 48 hours proving Roman wrong.
She found old bank statements.
Emails.
Tax documents.
Insurance records.
Every piece of evidence she could locate about her father's business.
The numbers told a strange story.
Walter had not simply gone bankrupt.
His most valuable contracts had been canceled within 6 weeks.
Three suppliers suddenly demanded immediate payment.
A crane accident resulted in an insurance investigation.
A municipal bid disappeared.
Then Adrien entered their lives.
He purchased the debt.
He saved Walter's house.
He became the family's hero.
Elsie stared at the timeline.
Adrien's involvement began 11 days after the first unexplained contract failure.
Marissa's name appeared in a series of emails.
She had forwarded private business information from Walter's office.
She had access because she helped with paperwork.
Elsie felt sick.
She confronted Marissa that evening.
They met at a small restaurant in Cambridge.
Marissa arrived wearing a cream coat.
She looked perfect.
She always did.
“I knew you were upset,” Marissa said.
“I am not upset.”
“You walked out of your wedding.”
“I saw you kissing my fiancé.”
Marissa's eyes filled.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“You don't know what Adrien is capable of.”
Elsie laughed.
“You were kissing him.”
“I was trying to get information.”
“While wearing Mom's ring?”
Marissa looked down.
“I found it in his office.”
“You said he was having it resized.”
“I lied.”
Elsie stared at her.
“Why?”
Marissa folded her hands.
“Because I knew you'd ask.”
“Where is it?”
Marissa took the ring from her purse.
She placed it on the table.
Elsie recognized every scratch.
Her mother's ring.
The stone caught the light.
“How long have you been working with Adrien?”
Marissa looked devastated.
“I never wanted this.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Marissa whispered.
“Three years.”
Elsie pushed back from the table.
Three years.
Long before the wedding.
Long before Adrien's proposal.
Long before she thought she had met him by accident.
“Did he choose me because of my mother?”
Marissa said nothing.
Elsie closed her eyes.
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
That single word changed everything.
Adrien had not fallen in love with her.
He had needed access to the ledger.
Diane had hidden it.
Elsie had been the person most likely to inherit whatever evidence remained.
The engagement had been a strategy.
The wedding had been the final move.
Marissa reached for her hand.
Elsie pulled away.
“You helped him.”
“I was trying to stop him.”
“You slept with him.”
Marissa started crying.
“I was pretending.”
“How convenient.”
“It isn't what you think.”
Elsie stood.
“You kissed him in front of me.”
“I wanted him to believe I was still loyal.”
“Why?”
Marissa's voice broke.
“Because he has something on me.”
Elsie stopped.
“What?”
“My son.”
Elsie's face changed.
“Your son?”
Marissa had never told her the child's father was Adrien's cousin.
The boy had been kept away from the family since infancy.
Marissa had always said the father had disappeared.
Now Elsie realized how carefully every part of their lives had been arranged.
Adrien had threatened Marissa through the child.
He controlled her.
But that still did not explain everything.
“What does Adrien want?”
“The ledger.”
“He has one.”
“Not the original.”
Elsie frowned.
“The blue one was only a copy.”
Marissa nodded.
“Mom kept the original.”
Elsie thought of the note.
KEEP HER OUT OF THIS.
“Where?”
Marissa looked toward the restaurant window.
“I don't know.”
Elsie sat again.
“What does the original contain?”
“Everything.”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone who bought silence.”
Marissa looked at her.
“Judges. Union bosses. Contractors. Police officials. Even people who later became powerful.”
“And Adrien?”
“He wants to control the evidence.”
“Why?”
“So he can become untouchable.”
Elsie thought about Roman.
“Then why does he need me?”
“Because Mom believed the original would only be released if you knew where it was.”
Elsie stared.
“She encoded it.”
“How?”
Marissa reached across the table.
“You remember the way Mom kept calendars?”
Elsie nodded.
“Every date had a symbol beside it.”
“Yes.”
“Those symbols were a code.”
Elsie felt the pieces click together.
The calendars.
The notebooks.
The dates.
The black book.
Her mother's profession had never been a coincidence.
She had built a private archive.
She had expected someone to come searching.
Marissa whispered, “Adrien believes you have the key.”
Elsie looked toward the window.
A black sedan was parked across the street.
She recognized the driver.
Roman.
He was watching the restaurant.
Marissa followed her gaze.
“He's here?”
Elsie nodded.
Marissa looked frightened.
“Then you are running out of time.”
Elsie took the ring.
For a moment, she almost felt sympathy.
Her sister's eyes were red.
Her hands trembled.
She had spent years being manipulated by the same man.
But sympathy was not trust.
“Where is your son?”
Marissa looked down.
“An apartment in Revere.”
“Take me there.”
Marissa shook her head.
“If Adrien is watching you, he'll know.”
“Then let him know.”
They left through the rear door.
Roman was waiting.
Elsie climbed into the Suburban.
Marissa followed.
Roman's eyes narrowed.
“This is a terrible idea.”
“Probably.”
Marissa sat beside Elsie.
Roman looked at her.
“You are Marissa Parker.”
“Yes.”
“You work with Adrien.”
Marissa's face hardened.
“I did.”
Roman looked toward Elsie.
“She knows more than she is saying.”
Elsie replied, “So do you.”
Roman accepted that.
They reached the apartment.
A babysitter opened the door.
The boy was asleep on a couch.
He was 5.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
A small scar under his chin.
Roman looked at Marissa.
“Adrien's family.”
“Yes.”
The boy woke.
He looked at Elsie.
“Aunt Elsie?”
She smiled.
“Hi, Tommy.”
He ran to her.
She caught him.
He whispered something into her ear.
“Mom said never tell anybody.”
Elsie looked at Marissa.
“What?”
Tommy pulled back.
“She keeps a box under the floor.”
Everyone went still.
Marissa covered her mouth.
“My room.”
They returned to the house.
Beneath the floorboard was another blue box.
Inside was a letter.
Not from Diane.
From Adrien's mother.
She had written it years earlier.
She confessed that Adrien's father had ordered the destruction of Walter's business.
She also confessed that Adrien had planned to marry Elsie because Diane's evidence could be inherited through her.
Elsie read the final line.
He does not love your sister. He does not love your daughter. He loves what your family knows.
Roman took the letter.
“That's enough to expose him.”
Marissa shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because this isn't everything.”
She pointed to the wall.
“He still has the original ledger.”
Elsie stared.
“Where?”
Marissa whispered.
May you like
“Your father's house.”
And then the lights went out.
