Chapter 2 - the warning behind the curtain
Lily tried to scream, but the person behind the curtain released her immediately.
Daniel Hart stepped into the light.
“Easy,” he whispered. “It’s me.”
Lily stared at her uncle.
Daniel was supposed to be in Chicago. Eleanor had made it clear that he was not welcome at the wedding after an argument about the family trust.
He wore a navy shirt instead of formal clothing. A travel bag rested beside his feet, and his dark hair was still damp from the rain outside.
“Why were you hiding?” Lily asked.
“Because your grandmother would have security remove me before I could speak to your mother.”
“That sounds bad.”
“It is.”
Daniel crouched so they were at eye level.
“You look frightened. What happened?”
Before Lily could answer, the bridal suite door opened.
Mara rushed into the corridor.
“Lily, I told you not to wander.”
She stopped when she saw Daniel.
Her relief lasted less than a second.
“What are you doing here?”
Daniel stood.
“I received a message.”
“You were told not to come.”
“I don’t take orders from our mother.”
“This is Claire’s wedding.”
“And Adrian Preston is trying to steal the hotel.”
Mara looked down the corridor to make certain no one had heard.
“Not in front of Lily.”
“She may already know more than we do.”
Lily reached for her mother’s hand.
“Adrian has Grandpa’s key.”
Mara’s expression changed.
“What key?”
“The brass one from the picture in Uncle Daniel’s office.”
Daniel and Mara exchanged a look.
Daniel had kept several of Jonathan’s belongings after Eleanor cleared the family home. One was a photograph showing their father standing before a private archive beneath the Ashbourne Grand.
In the photograph, Jonathan wore a brass key around his neck.
“That key disappeared after the accident,” Daniel said.
Lily told them what she had heard near the service elevator.
When she repeated Adrian’s statement about controlling the voting shares by midnight, Mara shook her head.
“Marriage doesn’t give him control of the trust.”
“Not automatically,” Daniel said. “But Claire is signing a continuity agreement after the ceremony.”
Mara had seen the document listed in the wedding schedule. Adrian had described it as a simple protection plan allowing him to make emergency decisions if Claire became ill.
“Daniel, you’re making assumptions.”
“I spent six months tracing the companies financing Adrian’s development projects. Three are under investigation. Two exist only on paper.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I tried. Mom blocked my calls and told Claire I was jealous.”
Mara looked toward the bridal suite.
Through the open door, Claire was laughing as the hairstylist adjusted her veil. She looked happier than Mara had seen her in years.
“Claire won’t listen today,” Mara said.
“She doesn’t need to listen. She only needs to delay signing.”
Daniel removed his phone and showed Mara the message that had brought him back to the hotel.
It had arrived from an unknown number at 4:13 that morning.
COME TO THE ASHBOURNE GRAND BEFORE THE CEREMONY.
ADRIAN HAS JONATHAN’S KEY.
YOUR FATHER DID NOT DIE BY ACCIDENT.
Attached to the message was a recent photograph.
The image showed a man entering the Ashbourne Grand through the underground parking garage.
His face was turned away from the camera.
On his right hand was Jonathan Hart’s signet ring.
Mara enlarged the photograph.
The timestamp was from three nights earlier.
“Who sent this?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
A movement reflected in the window behind them.
Daniel turned quickly.
The corridor was empty.
May you like
Only the service elevator remained open.
On its floor lay a black phone that had not been there moments before.
