something stupid.
Graham: Lena, answer me.
Then Paige.
Lena, please. There are things Graham never told me either.
Lena almost laughed. It came out as a broken breath.
The door opened and Adrian’s assistant stepped in, pale and careful.
“Mr. Vale,” she said, “there is a man in the lobby demanding Mrs. Bell. He says he is her husband.”
Lena looked through the glass strip beside the door.
Graham stood in the lobby, speaking sharply to security. Colette was beside him, her cream sweater replaced by a black coat. Paige stood near the entrance, arms wrapped around herself, the pearl earrings still in her ears.
But Lena’s eyes went to Colette’s hand.
She held a folded paper.
Lena recognized the corner of it. Cream legal stock. Blue notary seal.
The missing page from her mother’s will.
A strange calm moved through Lena.
“Let them into a conference room,” she said.
Adrian turned to her. “Mrs. Bell, I advise against direct confrontation until counsel arrives.”
“They came here because they’re afraid of what’s in this box,” Lena said. “I want to know which part.”
Adrian studied her for a moment. Then he nodded to his assistant. “Conference Room Three. Security stays outside. Compliance counsel joins remotely. Record the meeting.”
When Lena entered the conference room ten minutes later, Graham was pacing.
He stopped when he saw her.
For the first time in all the years she had known him, his face showed no charm at all.
Only fear wearing anger as a coat.
“Where did you get that key?” he demanded.
Lena closed the door behind her. Adrian stood beside her with a folder in his hand. Security remained visible through the glass wall.
“From my mother,” Lena said.
Colette’s fingers tightened around the folded paper.
Paige would not meet Lena’s eyes.
Graham stepped closer. “You don’t understand what you’re doing. Those documents are complicated. Your mother was sick. She misunderstood things.”
“She understood enough to hide proof from you.”
His mouth twitched.
There it was. The first crack.
Colette spoke quickly. “Mira was paranoid near the end. Graham tried to protect you from her accusations.”
“By returning my mail?”
Colette looked away.
Lena turned to Paige. “How long did you know him before you applied to work for me?”
Paige’s face crumpled slightly. Not enough to be remorse. Enough to be cornered.
“It wasn’t like that,” Paige said.
“Then make it like something,” Lena replied. “Tell the truth.”
Graham snapped, “Don’t answer her.”
The command hung in the room.
Paige flinched.
Lena saw it then. A small thing, but real. Paige was cruel, yes. Ambitious, yes. But she was not standing beside Graham because she felt safe. She was standing there because she had attached herself to a dangerous man and only now noticed the shape of the trap.
“Paige,” Lena said quietly, “he locked me outside last night. He’ll lock you out too when your usefulness ends.”
Graham laughed, but it sounded wrong.
“This is pathetic. You’re trying to turn her against me because you have nothing.”
Adrian opened the folder and slid one page onto the table.
It was the guarantee dated during Lena’s surgery.
“Mrs. Bell has hospital records contradicting the execution date of this document,” he said. “Meridian Trust also holds independent materials provided by Mira
