Chapter 6 - THE NAME THAT SHOULD HAVE STAYED BURIED
Adrian stared at Raymond.
“Explain.”
His uncle looked exhausted.
“Your mother's name was Eleanor Harper before she married your father.”
Adrian frowned.
He had known his mother's maiden name.
He had simply never connected it to Mia's.
“Harper is a common name.”
“Yes,” Raymond replied. “But somebody wanted that coincidence noticed.”
Adrian stepped toward him.
“Who?”
“I don't know who ordered it.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Raymond lowered himself into his chair.
“Your father left behind a collection of shipping contracts. Some were legitimate. Others involved people who should never have been partners.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“I cleaned those operations up years ago.”
“Not all of them.”
Raymond looked toward an old family photograph on the mantel.
“Six years ago, someone discovered that your mother had kept copies of financial records before she died.”
“Where?”
“At a charitable foundation connected to the hospital.”
Adrian remembered.
His mother had funded a nursing scholarship.
Mia had once received one of its grants.
He had considered that another coincidence.
Now he wasn't sure.
“Why use Mia's name?” Adrian asked.
“Because she was the scholarship recipient whose personnel file still contained the old Harper family name.”
Adrian's stomach tightened.
“You're telling me someone used my wife's identity to gain access to records my mother left behind?”
Raymond nodded slowly.
“And the men who attacked you were looking for those records.”
“Then why shoot me?”
Raymond looked away.
“Because they believed you already had them.”
Adrian felt anger rise.
“And you let them through?”
“I approved what I thought was an authorized review. I didn't know those men intended violence.”
“You discovered the truth afterward.”
“Yes.”
“And stayed silent.”
Raymond's eyes filled.
“Because my signature was on the authorization. I was afraid you'd believe I'd tried to kill you.”
Adrian looked at the man who had raised him.
“You were more afraid of losing my trust than of telling me who endangered Mia.”
Raymond couldn't meet his eyes.
For the first time, Adrian understood why his uncle had spent six years speaking of Mia with exaggerated affection.
Guilt.
Not necessarily for ordering the attack.
But for allowing the truth to remain buried.
At Nora's apartment, Mia had reached another discovery.
She was searching old hospital scholarship materials when she found a photograph of Eleanor Vale.
The resemblance to Adrian was unmistakable.
Dark eyes.
Straight nose.
The same serious expression.
Mia stared at the photograph.
Then she noticed Eleanor's necklace.
A small silver pendant shaped like an open book.
Mia knew that necklace.
She had seen it before.
Not on Eleanor.
On Celeste.
At a fundraiser four years earlier.
She remembered admiring it.
Celeste had touched the pendant and said it had belonged to a dear family friend.
Mia's hands tightened around the computer.
“Nora, look at this.”
Nora leaned over.
“That necklace?”
“Yes.”
“Could be a copy.”
“Maybe.”
Mia opened another photograph.
Eleanor wore the same pendant.
A tiny chip was visible along one corner.
Celeste's necklace had the identical mark.
Mia sat very still.
“Why would Celeste have Adrian's mother's necklace?”
Nora considered the question.
“Maybe Raymond gave it to her.”
Mia shook her head.
“Adrian believed his mother's jewelry was lost after her death.”
She remembered a conversation during their second anniversary.
Adrian had shown her an old photograph.
“My mother wore that necklace every day,” he had said. “I wish I knew where it went.”
Mia had offered to help find it.
He had smiled sadly.
“Some things disappear.”
Now she wondered whether the necklace had ever truly been lost.
Back at the lakefront house, Adrian was preparing to leave when Raymond stopped him.
“There is something else.”
Adrian turned.
Raymond opened a drawer and removed a small velvet pouch.
Inside lay a silver pendant.
An open book.
The chain was broken.
Adrian recognized it immediately.
“Mother's necklace.”
Raymond nodded.
“Celeste brought it to me last month.”
Adrian looked up.
“Why?”
“She said someone had been asking about it.”
“Who?”
Raymond hesitated.
“Mia.”
Adrian's throat tightened.
His wife had been investigating the accident without telling him.
While he had been allowing Celeste to convince him that Mia's dependence was the central problem in their marriage.
“Why didn't Celeste come to me?”
“Because she was frightened.”
“Of Mia?”
“No.”
Raymond handed him a folded photograph.
It showed Celeste standing beside Eleanor Vale years earlier.
Celeste looked much younger.
Eleanor had one hand on her shoulder.
Adrian frowned.
“Celeste knew my mother?”
Raymond nodded.
“Your mother helped raise her after her parents died.”
Adrian stared at the image.
Celeste had never mentioned it.
Then Raymond delivered the detail that changed everything.
“Your mother didn't leave that necklace to you, Adrian.”
May you like
He swallowed.
“She left it to Celeste—with instructions to give it to the woman you married.”
