Chapter 7 - Dad's Secret
The call ended.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Mom stared at the photograph.
"I've never seen that transfer."
"Do you recognize the picture?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Berlin. Around sixteen years ago."
"You were working with Voss then."
"I was investing with him."
"Same difference."
"No, Olivia."
Mom grabbed my arm.
"You have to believe me."
I pulled away.
"You've lied to me for years."
"I lied about money. I lied because I was ashamed."
"That's supposed to make it better?"
"No."
For once, she didn't defend herself.
"I deserve whatever you think of me. But I never wanted Sienna hurt."
I stared at her.
Part of me wanted to scream.
Another part wanted to collapse.
Neither would help Sienna.
So I became what my father had trained me to become.
Calm.
Mission first.
"Mercer needs everything."
Mom nodded.
"Every email. Every number. Every meeting."
"Yes."
"No more lies."
She looked at me.
"No more lies."
Back upstairs, the ballroom had been cleared.
What should have been my engagement celebration became a secured coordination space.
Local police arrived.
Federal agents arrived.
Army investigators arrived.
People who'd been drinking champagne an hour earlier were now looking at maps and phone records.
My life had cracked open in public.
I didn't care anymore.
I only cared about Sienna.
Dad's attorney, Samuel Price, arrived shortly before midnight.
Seventy-one.
Gray hair.
Navy suit.
Same tired eyes I remembered from Dad's funeral.
He walked straight to me.
"I was afraid this would happen."
I nearly hit him.
"You knew?"
"I knew Andrew feared it."
"You had a folder."
"Yes."
"Someone stole it."
His face drained of color.
"What?"
"From our suite."
He sat down slowly.
"What was in it?"
"A letter. A flash drive. Financial records."
"Copies?"
"Some."
"Where?"
He looked toward Mom.
"Not in front of Linda."
Mom stiffened.
I didn't.
"She stays."
"Olivia—"
"She stays."
Price studied me.
Then nodded.
"Your father discovered Northstar wasn't simply an investment company. It was moving money for foreign intelligence intermediaries."
Mom closed her eyes.
"He tried to expose it."
"Eventually."
"Eventually?"
Price looked uncomfortable.
"What aren't you saying?"
"Andrew initially cooperated."
My heart stopped.
"No."
"He believed it was a legitimate intelligence operation."
Mason leaned forward.
"Whose operation?"
"That's where things become unclear."
Price opened his briefcase.
"According to Andrew, he was approached by a man claiming to represent an allied intelligence service. They wanted to track illicit funds passing through private military networks."
"Voss?"
"Voss was the financial intermediary."
"And the nine million?"
"Operational funds."
The room fell silent.
I stared at the bank record again.
"So Dad wasn't paying Northstar."
"No."
Price shook his head.
"He was baiting it."
Mom whispered, "Andrew never told me."
"He couldn't."
"Why?"
"Because someone close to the operation was compromised."
Mason's face hardened.
"Who?"
"Andrew never discovered that with certainty."
Price reached into his briefcase and removed a sealed envelope.
"But he had suspicions."
My name was written on it.
Again.
Dad's handwriting.
I opened it.
Inside was a single sheet.
Liv,
If you're reading this, Northstar has returned.
Do not assume the person who betrayed me knew they were doing it.
Voss survives by finding weakness, not loyalty.
Money. Shame. Addiction. Fear. Family.
Especially family.
I swallowed hard.
The final lines were underlined.
THE MONEY IN THE TRUST IS NOT HIS.
IT IS EVIDENCE.
DO NOT TRANSFER IT.
IF VOSS RETURNS, FIND PROJECT NIGHTGLASS.
I looked up.
"What is Project Nightglass?"
Price shook his head.
"I don't know."
Mason had gone completely still.
I noticed.
"Mason?"
He looked at me.
And I knew immediately.
He knew.
"What is Nightglass?"
He glanced at Mercer.
Mercer looked away.
My chest tightened.
"Mason."
He finally answered.
"Nightglass is the classified operation I'm currently commanding."
The room seemed to tilt.
I stared at the man I was supposed to marry.
"You knew my father was connected to your operation?"
May you like
His silence told me the answer.
And suddenly my mother's betrayal wasn't the only one in the room.
