Chapter 5 - THE SECRET WRITTEN BETWEEN THE NOTES
Gabriel returned to his Manhattan mansion shortly before midnight.
He didn't change out of his black suit.
He walked directly into the ballroom where Lily had played earlier that evening.
The guests were gone.
Crystal glasses had been cleared away.
The chandeliers still glowed above the empty tables.
And the grand piano stood exactly where it had always stood.
Gabriel opened its music cabinet.
Inside were dozens of folders.
Concert programs.
Practice books.
Sheet music from charity performances.
He searched each one.
Nothing.
“Looking for something?”
Gabriel turned.
Meredith stood near the ballroom entrance.
She had removed her diamond necklace.
Without it, she looked older.
More tired.
“Where is Isabella's music?” Gabriel asked.
Meredith folded her arms.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“The handwritten score. The song she taught Lily.”
Meredith looked toward the piano.
“Those old papers were probably discarded years ago.”
“Then you won't mind if I search.”
Her jaw tightened.
“Gabriel, you need to think carefully about what you're doing.”
He approached her.
“I spent five years believing Isabella was dead.”
Meredith looked away.
“I know.”
“You stood beside me at her memorial.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me break apart.”
Her expression flickered.
“Gabriel—”
“And all that time, she was raising our daughter.”
Meredith's eyes glistened.
“You don't understand everything.”
“Then explain it.”
She hesitated.
“Your father's company was in trouble. North Point was losing money. The foundation had obligations it couldn't meet.”
“What does that have to do with Isabella?”
“She found discrepancies and threatened to expose them before I could fix them.”
“So you destroyed her life?”
Meredith shook her head.
“I was trying to keep everything from collapsing.”
Gabriel stared.
“By telling me my family was dead?”
Meredith looked at the floor.
“I won't discuss that without legal counsel.”
He stepped back.
“Then you're finished here.”
“You can't dismiss me without the board.”
“Tomorrow, I'll ask the board to remove you.”
Meredith lifted her chin.
“Be certain you know what those records contain before you do.”
Then she left.
Gabriel returned to the piano.
He carefully examined the remaining folders.
One contained an old charity concert program.
Isabella's photograph smiled from the cover.
The title beneath it read:
Home in the Rain — Original Composition by Isabella Bennett and Gabriel Ashford.
He opened it.
The printed music was familiar.
But a faint pencil mark near the final measure caught his attention.
A tiny star.
Gabriel remembered Isabella drawing stars beside difficult passages.
He turned the page.
Another star.
Then another.
Beside several measures were small numbers written in her handwriting.
He had assumed they were reminders about timing.
Now he looked closer.
They weren't musical instructions.
They were dates.
Account references.
And initials.
He photographed the pages before touching anything else.
At 7:30 the following morning, he sat inside his office with Beatrice Chen, an independent forensic accountant he'd trusted for more than a decade.
Beatrice examined the photographs.
“These aren't random numbers.”
“What are they?”
“Transaction references.”
She connected her laptop to the foundation's retained accounting archive.
One by one, she searched.
The first reference matched a scholarship fund.
The second matched a transfer to North Point Development.
The third matched an internal authorization.
Beatrice's expression changed.
“Gabriel, this is serious.”
“How serious?”
“Several million dollars serious.”
He stared.
“Isabella knew?”
“She appears to have recorded the first transfers before anyone else raised an alarm.”
Gabriel leaned back.
For five years, Isabella had been treated as a thief.
And the proof of what she'd discovered had sat beside his piano.
Beatrice continued searching.
“There's something else.”
She opened a transaction report.
Several transfers had been approved after Isabella entered the hospital to give birth.
Her name appeared beside them.
Gabriel leaned forward.
“She couldn't have authorized those.”
“That's exactly the problem.”
Beatrice pulled up the access history.
The approvals were made using Isabella's credentials.
But the terminal location was the foundation's executive office.
Not the hospital.
Gabriel felt a cold knot form in his stomach.
“Meredith had access.”
“Yes.”
“Then she did this.”
Beatrice didn't answer immediately.
She opened another record.
“I need you to look at something.”
The largest transfer had been processed using emergency authority granted by the foundation's chairman.
Gabriel Ashford.
His own name appeared beside the approval.
May you like
Beatrice slowly turned the screen toward him.
“Gabriel,” she said, “according to the foundation's records, you authorized the money to move.”
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