Chapter 6 - The Man at the Head of the TableNathan Cole chose Ashford House for the meeting.
Not vanished in the same mysterious way.
According to newspapers, she'd left Boston after her father's death and moved overseas.
Marcus told everyone the engagement had ended.
No scandal.
No police report.
No investigation.
Just another person quietly removed from Ashford family history.
Richard hadn't questioned it at the time.
Now he questioned everything.
Caleb located Rebecca within eighteen hours.
She hadn't gone overseas.
She had been living under her married name, Rebecca Lane, in a coastal town in Maine.
When Richard called, she hung up.
When Marcus called, she blocked the number.
When Maya called and said one sentence—
"My mother was Eleanor Ashford."
Rebecca agreed to meet.
They found her inside a small café overlooking the harbor.
She was fifty-one now, with silver streaking through dark hair and the cautious posture of someone who had spent decades expecting trouble.
She stared at Maya for nearly a minute.
"You have Eleanor's eyes."
Maya sat opposite her.
"You knew my mother?"
Rebecca looked toward Richard.
"I knew all of you."
Richard leaned forward.
"Then tell me what happened."
Rebecca's laugh held no humor.
"Twenty-five years late."
"I didn't know."
"No. You didn't."
Something in her voice made Richard flinch.
Rebecca wrapped both hands around her coffee cup.
"My father worked for Ashford Industries for eighteen years. He discovered your father, Charles, was using Northstar contracts to move illegal payments."
Richard stared.
"My father?"
Rebecca nodded.
"Charles wasn't protecting your company. He was stealing from it."
Caleb placed a recorder on the table.
Rebecca refused it.
"No recordings."
"Why?"
"Because I'm alive."
Caleb switched it off.
Rebecca continued.
Edwin Shaw discovered Charles's scheme.
Marcus discovered it too.
Instead of joining his father, Marcus tried to stop him.
Richard looked stunned.
"Marcus knew?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"Because Charles threatened him."
Rebecca's eyes hardened.
"Your father controlled everything. Lawyers. Board members. Security. Politicians. He had files on people. Debts. Affairs. Bribes. He built insurance policies out of human weakness."
Maya remembered Eleanor's warning.
Don't trust the name Ashford.
Not Marcus.
The family itself.
Rebecca continued.
"Eleanor found financial documents by accident. She thought Edwin was stealing."
"That's why she suspected him," Richard said.
"Yes. She confronted my father. He told her the truth."
Richard closed his eyes.
"Then why did Edwin wear the ring?"
Rebecca's expression turned painful.
"Because Charles made him."
Nobody spoke.
"Your father used the signet ring as a symbol when giving certain orders. He forced Edwin to wear it during meetings so witnesses would associate him with the decisions."
Maya felt sick.
"He was framing him."
"Exactly."
"What happened to your father?"
Rebecca looked at the harbor.
"He was killed."
Richard's eyes sharpened.
"His death was ruled suicide."
"My father didn't kill himself."
Rebecca reached into her bag and removed a folded document.
An autopsy amendment.
Never officially filed.
It showed bruising inconsistent with the original report.
Richard's hands clenched.
Rebecca looked at him.
"Eleanor learned he was dead and panicked. She believed Charles would kill her next."
"Was my father the one who threatened her?"
Rebecca shook her head.
"I don't know."
"But you know something."
Rebecca looked at Maya.
"Your mother contacted me once."
Maya's heart raced.
"When?"
"Nine years after she disappeared."
Richard went completely still.
"You spoke to Eleanor?"
"For eleven minutes."
"And you didn't tell me?"
Rebecca's expression broke.
"She begged me not to."
Richard stood abruptly.
"You knew she was alive."
"And I knew your father still had people watching you."
"My father died fifteen years ago."
"Yes."
Richard stared.
Rebecca said softly, "And Eleanor called me sixteen years ago."
That silenced him.
Rebecca looked at Maya.
"Your mother wasn't hiding from Richard anymore."
"Then who?"
"Someone else."
Maya leaned closer.
"Who?"
Rebecca's eyes moved toward Caleb.
Then toward the café door.
A black SUV had parked outside.
She went pale.
"We need to leave."
Caleb stood.
"Why?"
"Because that vehicle has been following me for two days."
Richard turned.
The SUV doors opened.
Two men stepped out.
Caleb grabbed Rebecca's arm.
"Back exit."
They moved quickly through the kitchen.
A cook shouted.
Richard pulled Maya behind him.
They burst into an alley behind the café.
Another vehicle waited there.
Caleb stopped.
"Down!"
A window lowered.
Maya ducked instinctively.
But no gun appeared.
Marcus Ashford leaned across the passenger seat.
"Get in!"
Richard stared.
"What are you doing here?"
"Saving your life. Again."
Richard hesitated.
A crash sounded from inside the café.
Caleb opened the rear door.
"Move!"
They piled inside.
Marcus accelerated before the doors fully closed.
The black SUV followed.
For six terrifying minutes, Marcus drove through narrow coastal streets while Caleb shouted directions.
Eventually, he turned into a marina service road and disappeared beneath a covered loading structure.
The pursuing SUV continued past.
Marcus killed the engine.
Silence filled the car.
Richard grabbed his brother's shoulder.
"Explain."
Marcus turned.
His face was pale.
"I've been trying to."
"No, you've been lying."
"Because the truth gets people killed."
Rebecca stared at him.
"Marcus."
He looked back.
Twenty-five years disappeared from both their faces.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Rebecca's eyes filled.
"You always say that after it's too late."
Richard slammed a hand against the dashboard.
"Enough! Who is following us?"
Marcus looked at him.
"Someone our father trusted more than either of us."
"Who?"
Marcus exhaled.
"You remember Nathan Cole?"
Richard froze.
Maya had heard the name before.
Everyone had.
Nathan Cole had served as Charles Ashford's closest adviser for three decades.
After Charles died, Nathan became chairman emeritus of Ashford Industries.
He was seventy-eight years old.
Respected.
Philanthropic.
Almost family.
Richard shook his head.
"Nathan helped me search for Eleanor."
Marcus's expression was grim.
"Exactly."
Richard went still.
Marcus continued.
"He controlled the investigators you hired. He screened every lead. Every report came through him."
Maya understood before Richard did.
"He wasn't helping you find her."
Marcus nodded.
"He was making sure you never did."
Richard looked shattered.
"Why?"
Rebecca answered.
"Because Charles Ashford wasn't the mastermind behind Northstar."
Richard stared at her.
Rebecca whispered:
"He was Nathan Cole's partner."
Marcus looked at Richard.
"And after Dad died, Nathan inherited the one thing he wanted more than money."
"What?"
"Control over you."
Richard stared through the windshield.
Then his phone rang.
A private number.
He answered.
Nathan Cole's calm, familiar voice came through the speaker.
"Richard, I hear you've had an interesting week."
Nobody breathed.
Richard's face turned to stone.
May you like
Nathan continued.
"I think it's time you and I discussed your daughter."
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