C10 THE SECRET BETWEEN THEM

Isabella Hart stared at the warning on her phone while Alexander Sterling knocked on her bedroom door. DON’T LET HIM SEE THE PHOTOGRAPH. HE’LL KNOW WHO SENT IT. She had no idea who had sent the message or why they wanted her to hide the evidence from her husband. One thing was certain: someone knew about their marriage, her investigation, and the secrets connecting their families. She slipped the photograph beneath a cushion and opened the door.

Alexander stood in the corridor without his jacket, his tie loosened and his expression unusually tense. He showed her a message containing a photograph of them entering the mansion earlier that evening. Beneath the image were the words, YOUR FATHER’S DEATH WILL DESTROY YOUR MARRIAGE. Isabella studied the photograph before looking at him. He wanted to know whether she had received a similar threat, but she denied it, unwilling to reveal the evidence she had just hidden.

Someone had attempted to access an old Hartwell Designs account that afternoon, Alexander explained. The account had been inactive since Daniel Hart’s death, but an unknown person had tried to retrieve a confidential partnership file. The request had been blocked before the document could be downloaded. Isabella immediately suspected that the attempt was connected to her father’s death, but Alexander’s next admission surprised her: the file concerned an agreement between Daniel Hart and Richard Sterling.

Isabella demanded an explanation. Alexander admitted that their fathers had worked together years before Sterling Global became the powerful corporation it was today. Their partnership involved an investment that could have transformed both businesses, but the arrangement had eventually collapsed. Richard had claimed that Daniel broke their agreement, although Alexander had never seen enough evidence to determine whether the accusation was true. The details had remained confidential, and even members of the Sterling family knew little about what had happened.

Isabella struggled to understand why her father had never mentioned the partnership. Daniel had spent years fighting to preserve Hartwell Designs, yet he had apparently shared a significant business arrangement with the man whose family eventually acquired his company. She demanded to know why Alexander had kept the information from her. He explained that he wanted to establish the facts before giving her an incomplete account, but she refused to accept that excuse. Daniel was her father, and she would not allow Alexander to decide how much of his history she deserved to know.

She retrieved the photograph from beneath the cushion and handed it to him. It showed Daniel standing beside Richard outside a building at night, with a document bearing both their signatures between them. Alexander recognised the location as his father’s former office, which had been sold years earlier. The document resembled an agreement he had seen after Richard’s death, but the version he possessed was incomplete. He had never seen the original, and his father had kept the complete document private.

Isabella asked how Alexander could believe Daniel had broken the agreement without examining the original. Alexander admitted that he had relied on his father’s account. His honesty surprised her, especially because he had spent much of their acquaintance defending Sterling Global’s decisions. She reminded him that Richard might have lied, and Alexander acknowledged the possibility. For the first time, they stood on the same side of a question neither could answer.

He promised to request access to Sterling Global’s surviving partnership records and share any discoveries relevant to Daniel’s death. Isabella agreed to investigate alongside him, but she made it clear that she would not surrender control of the search. Their arrangement remained cautious rather than trusting. They both wanted the truth, yet neither could be certain what the other might discover or what that knowledge would cost them.

Before leaving, Alexander revealed another secret. After Richard died, he had found a photograph of Daniel and Isabella’s mother in a locked drawer inside his father’s private study. Isabella’s mother had died when she was young, leaving behind only a few possessions and memories that had become less distinct with time. She could not understand why Richard had kept a photograph of her parents hidden away, especially when the two families supposedly had little contact beyond business.

There had been a note on the back of the photograph. Alexander remembered its exact words: SHE MUST NEVER KNOW. Isabella felt a chill move through her. The message suggested that her mother had known something important, perhaps something connected to the agreement between Daniel and Richard. She asked whether Alexander had investigated the note, but he admitted that he had not pursued it properly. At the time, he had no reason to connect the photograph to Daniel’s death.

Isabella struggled to contain her anger. Alexander had possessed information that might have helped her understand her parents’ lives, yet he had never told her about it. He insisted that he had not understood its significance, but she found it difficult to trust explanations that always arrived after she uncovered another secret. He left her room without offering any further answers, leaving her to examine the photograph and consider what her mother might have known.

Before dawn, an email arrived from an unfamiliar address. It contained a scanned page from an old agreement between Daniel Hart and Richard Sterling. Several paragraphs had been blacked out, but one clause remained readable: neither party could transfer ownership without the other’s written consent. At the bottom appeared the signature of a witness. Isabella recognised the name from documents connected to Hartwell Designs. The person had worked closely with both families and would have had access to confidential business records.

She enlarged the image to examine the signature more carefully, but the email disappeared before she could save the entire message. She searched her inbox and deleted folder without success. Whoever had sent it had removed the original, leaving only the image she had managed to save. The brief glimpse was enough to convince her that someone wanted her to discover the agreement, but only in carefully controlled pieces.

Her phone rang. Alexander wanted to know whether she had found anything new. Isabella told him about the email and sent him the saved image. He promised to compare the signature with Sterling Global’s surviving records. Minutes later, he called again, his voice stripped of its usual composure. He told her not to contact anyone about the document, including her father’s former employees or members of his family.

Isabella demanded to know what he had discovered. Alexander explained that the signature belonged to someone who had been present when their fathers made the agreement. The person was not a distant business associate or a former employee who had disappeared years ago. According to Alexander, the individual had continued working for him for years and still had access to Sterling Global’s affairs.

The call ended before Isabella could ask for a name. She stared at the saved image, realising that the person who might explain what happened between Daniel and Richard was still inside Alexander’s world. They could access confidential records, knew the history of both families, and had apparently managed to conceal the truth for years. Worse, they might already know that Isabella was searching for answers.

She looked at the marriage contract on her bedside table. She had entered the arrangement to protect her future and investigate her father’s death, believing that living beside Alexander would give her access to information she could never obtain alone. Now she was beginning to understand that the mansion offered no guarantee of safety. The closer she came to the truth, the more dangerous her position became.

She did not sleep. Instead, she copied the image onto a second device and placed the original photograph inside her handbag carefully. At seven, she dressed for the meeting and went downstairs, carrying the saved document in a sealed envelope. Alexander was waiting near the entrance, speaking quietly to his driver. When he saw her, he ended the conversation and asked whether she was ready. Isabella told him she was ready to see the records, not ready to trust him. He accepted the distinction without protest.

During the drive, the city moved past the windows in a blur of morning traffic. Isabella watched Alexander reviewing messages and wondered whether the employee he suspected had realised the investigation was closing in. She wanted a name, but pushing him might make him retreat into silence again. At Sterling Global, she decided, she would examine every available record herself and keep copies of anything relevant. If Alexander truly intended to help her, he would have to prove it through actions rather than promises. Her father had trusted someone once, and that trust had cost him everything. Isabella would not repeat his mistake, even if the person she needed to question was the man she had married.

Someone inside Sterling Global knew what their fathers had agreed to, and that person had already realised Isabella was searching for the truth.