“And he exposed them?”
“I tried,” my father said. “But Black Harbor was deeper than I knew. Margot Ellery warned me to stop. When I didn’t, she took Nathaniel.”
My brother’s name landed heavily in the car.
“And now her daughter took Samuel.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him. “Why wait all these years?”
Mara looked up from the laptop. “Because she needed access to the Ashford bloodline.”
My skin went cold.
“Adrian,” I whispered.
Mara nodded. “Celeste found him when his company was failing. She gave him money, attention, and a story. She convinced him your family had stolen a fortune from hers.”
“Did we?”
My father said nothing.
“Dad.”
He exhaled. “Margot stole from Black Harbor. I froze what I could. Some of that money became evidence. Some of it was returned to victims. Some vanished.”
“And Celeste thinks you kept it?”
“She thinks I kept the master ledger.”
