June followed him.
“What?”
Adrian stared at nothing.
“The credentials.”
“What credentials?”
“The original payroll authorization was mine.”
“You said someone used your identity.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
He looked at her.
“Nine years ago, I didn’t have full executive credentials.”
Rafael got out of the car.
Adrian continued.
“My father still controlled the company.”
Rafael understood first.
“So the system couldn’t have been using your authorization nine years ago.”
“Not unless someone altered the audit history later.”
June whispered, “Victor?”
Adrian shook his head.
“Victor would have changed it to protect himself.”
“Then who?”
Adrian looked toward Chicago.
“Someone who wanted Margaret to believe I had started it.”
Victor was still in the boardroom when Adrian returned.
His split lip had swollen.
The others had been separated.
Adrian ordered everyone out except Rafael and June.
Victor saw June and smiled faintly.
“So you know.”
June stiffened.
Adrian closed the door.
“You knew she was my sister.”
“Eventually.”
“When?”
“After Thomas died.”
“Why didn’t you take the trust?”
Victor laughed.
“Because Thomas made it nearly impossible. The principal couldn’t be transferred to Blackwell executives or their relatives. Smart old bastard.”
“Who altered the payroll audit history?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“What?”
“Someone changed the original records to make it look like my credentials authorized the scheme.”
Victor studied him.
Then something changed in his face.
Not guilt.
Realization.
“Oh.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Who?”
Victor looked genuinely disturbed.
“You still haven’t figured it out.”
“Figured what out?”
“Why do you think Margaret was driving to Rockford the night she died?”
Adrian said nothing.
“She wasn’t running from me.”
Victor leaned back.
“She was meeting someone.”
“Who?”
“The only man besides Thomas who knew the original architecture.”
Adrian’s mind moved through names.
Accountants.
Lawyers.
Executives.
Then stopped.
A man who had been beside the Blackwell family longer than Victor.
A man Adrian had never investigated because the very idea seemed absurd.
A man who had served Thomas Blackwell before Adrian inherited anything.
Rafael Ortiz.
Adrian slowly turned.
Rafael stood behind June.
His expression had changed.
June saw it too late.
Rafael drew a pistol.
“Don’t.”
Adrian froze.
Victor closed his eyes.
“There it is.”
June looked from the weapon to Rafael.
“Why?”
Rafael’s voice was almost apologetic.
“Because Margaret couldn’t leave it alone.”
Adrian stared at the man he had trusted with everything.
Rafael had guarded him for nineteen years.
Saved his life twice.
Held Adrian upright at Margaret’s graveside.
“You killed her.”
“No.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Everybody says that.”
Rafael kept the weapon steady.
“Eddie tampered with the brakes on Victor’s order. That part is true.”
“Then—”
“But Margaret discovered it before she left Chicago.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“She knew?”
“She was smarter than all of us.”
Rafael’s voice carried something almost like admiration.
“She had another vehicle waiting.”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
Rafael looked at him.
“You never knew that part.”
Adrian felt sick.
“Then whose SUV went through the guardrail?”
Rafael’s eyes returned to him.
“Margaret’s.”
“That makes no sense.”
“She changed her mind.”
“About what?”
“Leaving.”
Adrian’s heart seemed to stop.
Rafael continued.
“She called me.”
“Why?”
“She trusted me.”
Victor laughed again.
“Everyone trusted you.”
Rafael ignored him.
“She told me everything. Thomas. June. The theft. Victor. She said she was going to expose it all.”
“Why would that make her call you?”
“Because she wanted me to protect you.”
Adrian whispered, “From what?”
“The truth.”
Rafael’s face tightened.
“Your father didn’t create the wage scheme alone.”
Adrian felt numb.
“Who helped him?”
Rafael’s answer was almost gentle.
“Your mother.”
Adrian said nothing.
His mother, Evelyn Blackwell, had died when he was seventeen.
Elegant.
Cold.
Charitable in public.
Terrifying at home.
Rafael continued.
“Thomas wanted money for June. Evelyn discovered the affair before June was born. She agreed to keep quiet under one condition.”
“What condition?”
“That Thomas never publicly acknowledge the child.”
June’s face twisted.
Rafael looked at her.
“Your existence humiliated her.”
Adrian’s voice was low.
“So she created the scheme?”
“She created the structure. Thomas used it to fund June’s trust. Evelyn used it for something else.”
“Executive loyalty.”
“Yes.”
Victor stared.
“You knew all this?”
Rafael nodded.
“I was Thomas’s security driver before I worked for Adrian.”
Adrian’s mind raced.
“And Margaret?”
“She discovered Evelyn’s records.”
“Why did you kill her?”
“I didn’t intend to.”
Rafael’s hand trembled slightly for the first time.
