Chapter 6 - THE SAFE BENEATH THE GREENHOUSE
The old greenhouse had not been used since Sadie was fourteen.
Ivy covered half the glass.
Several panels were cracked.
Inside, dead planting tables sat beneath sheets of dust.
Wyatt locked the door behind them.
"Where?"
Sadie looked around.
"I don't know."
Then she remembered Elias.
Charles.
When she was eight, he used to let her plant tulips in one particular corner.
He always insisted she never move the stone planter.
Sadie crossed the greenhouse.
The planter was still there.
Wyatt helped drag it aside.
Beneath it was a metal ring embedded in the floor.
They pulled.
A square hatch opened.
Inside sat a waterproof case.
The brass key fit.
Sadie's hands shook as she opened it.
Documents.
Photographs.
A ledger.
Three cassette tapes.
And a sealed envelope marked:
FOR SADIE, AFTER SHE KNOWS ABOUT THE BALCONY.
She stared at the handwriting.
Charles's.
Wyatt touched her shoulder.
"You don't have to read it here."
"Yes, I do."
She opened the envelope.
Sadie,
If you are reading this, then the lie has finally become more dangerous than the truth.
Your father did not always hate you.
That is important.
When you were born, Richard adored you.
The change began when he learned what your birth meant.
Sadie paused.
"What does that mean?"
Wyatt shook his head.
She continued.
Under the Carter family trust, the first biological granddaughter born to a direct Carter heir held a special succession right established by my mother, Eleanor Carter.
Sadie looked up.
"First granddaughter."
"That's you."
She continued reading.
Richard expected any eventual daughter to become his proxy. Instead, the trust contained an independence provision requiring that control pass directly to you when certain conditions were met.
One condition was marriage.
Another was proof that you entered the marriage without coercion.
Richard could not revoke this provision.
He could only delay it.
Or remove you.
Sadie's fingers tightened on the paper.
The letter continued.
Melanie's birth created a second problem.
She is not Richard's daughter.
She is Malcolm Reed's.
Wyatt exhaled.
Sadie closed her eyes.
Victoria and Malcolm.
The betrayal made sense now.
So did Richard's strange preference for Melanie.
Except it did not.
"Why would Dad favor a child that isn't his?"
Wyatt said, "Maybe because of Malcolm."
Sadie kept reading.
Richard discovered Victoria's affair shortly before Melanie was born. He did not expose it. He used it.
Malcolm had already assisted him in falsifying company documents.
By keeping Melanie inside the Carter family, Richard gained permanent leverage over Malcolm.
Sadie whispered, "Melanie was collateral."
Wyatt's face tightened.
The final paragraphs were worse.
Richard's affection for Melanie became genuine over time. That does not make his actions less calculated. He favored her partly because she could never trigger the original Carter succession clause.
You could.
The envelope contained one additional paper.
A photocopy of a handwritten agreement.
Richard Carter and Malcolm Reed.
Twenty years earlier.
Sadie read the first line.
In the event that S.E.C. reaches matrimonial activation, transfer must be prevented by any necessary means.
S.E.C.
Sadie Elizabeth Carter.
At the bottom was a third signature.
Victoria Carter.
Sadie stopped.
"No."
Wyatt looked over her shoulder.
Victoria had signed.
Her mother had known.
Not merely later.
Not merely as a frightened wife.
She had signed a document authorizing them to stop Sadie's marriage by any necessary means.
Wyatt's voice was gentle.
"Sadie."
She folded the paper.
"No."
"We should take this to law enforcement."
"Not yet."
"Your father threatened to kill you."
"And my mother signed this."
Wyatt stared at her.
Sadie's expression changed.
"For twenty years, they thought I was the stupid one."
May you like
She put every document back into the case except the agreement.
"Let's keep it that way for another forty-eight hours."
