Chapter 4 - Adele Lit the Match Too Soon
Adele was on every screen in the country at 1:05.
Pearl earrings. Black silk. Grief worn like a tailored coat.
"My family," she said, voice quivering right on cue, "has been attacked by a woman who came into our home under false pretenses."
Simone threw a strawberry at the TV. "She practiced that in a mirror."
Adele kept going. "Nora Calloway hid her identity, manipulated my son, and used stolen documents to smear three generations of honest work."
Edmund gave a short, bitter laugh. "Honest work. She always loved fiction."
Then Adele swung the hammer.
She held up a copy of an old document.
"Her father, Thomas Calloway, was not a victim. He was a willing participant."
The room went silent.
My chest clamped down.
On screen, reporters shouted. Adele lowered her lashes like she was shielding herself from the pain of it.
"We have evidence that Mr. Calloway personally authorized the transfers now being falsely described as theft."
I stared at the television.
I'd known the Ashfords would come for me.
I hadn't expected them to dig up my father and put a weapon in his hand.
Agnes gripped the ledger. "That page is false."
"Or half of one," Edmund said.
Before I could speak, my phone rang.
Weston.
I almost let it go. Then I answered.
His voice came through low and rough. "She's lying."
I went still. "About what?"
"Your father. The document she just showed is real. But it's missing the second page."
Simone leaned in.
"Where is it?" I asked.
Weston breathed hard. "My mother has it."
"Why are you telling me?"
Silence. Then, quieter: "Because I didn't know everything."
"That doesn't make you innocent."
"I know."
Those two words sounded like they cost him something real.
I shut my eyes for a second. "Where does Adele keep it?"
"In the house. The east library. Behind the grandfather portrait, there's a wall safe."
Edmund's head came up sharply.
"The code used to be my birthday," Weston said.
Edmund's face changed. Not shock. Grief.
"Weston," he said suddenly.
The line went quiet.
Then Weston: "Who is that?"
I looked between them.
Edmund stepped closer to the phone. "Your mother never told you."
A long pause. "Told me what?"
Edmund's voice broke, just once. "That Douglas isn't your father."
Nobody moved. Even Simone stopped breathing.
Weston let out a small, disbelieving laugh. "No."
Edmund closed his eyes. "I am."
The phone nearly slipped out of my hand.
The Ashfords hadn't only hidden stolen money. They'd hidden blood.
Weston said nothing for so long I thought the call had dropped.
Then, a whisper: "She knew?"
"Yes," Edmund said. "Adele knew. Douglas knew. I was sent off with money, threats, and a promise to stay silent."
Weston's voice hardened, but it was aimed somewhere else now. "She used me."
"She used all of us," Edmund said.
I brought the phone back to my ear. "Weston. The safe."
His voice came back hollow. "The code won't be my birthday now."
"What would she have changed it to?"
Another pause. "Not mine."
Edmund's eyes opened. He understood before I did.
Weston whispered, "Try Edmund's."
We moved before the fear could catch up to us.
Rafael called Marcus. Simone gathered the devices. Agnes locked the ledger in a hard case.
At 2:10, we drove back toward New Canaan.
May you like
Not to beg. Not to hide. Not to save a marriage that was already a corpse.
We were going back into that house to pull my father's truth out of Adele Ashford's wall.
