C7 THE PRICE OF HIS SILENCE

The call ended before Isabella could ask Alexander what his grandfather had admitted. She called him back immediately, but the line went straight to voicemail. A second attempt brought the same result. She stared at her phone, remembering his final words and the warning that Richard was not the only Sterling who knew the truth. For the first time, she feared that Alexander had walked into a situation he could not control.

She called his security director, whose number Alexander had shared during their investigation. The man confirmed that Alexander had arrived at the Sterling residence, but he had received no further updates. Isabella demanded that someone check on him. The director hesitated, explaining that Alexander had instructed the team to remain outside unless there was an emergency. Isabella considered waiting, then remembered how many times people had disappeared from the story surrounding her father. She refused to let another silence become an excuse.

Before she could leave, her phone vibrated with a message from Alexander. It contained only three words: Find Eleanor Thorne.

Isabella read it twice. The message offered no explanation, but she understood that something had happened during his meeting with Richard. She grabbed Daniel’s photograph and the brass key, then contacted Mara Ellis. The former assistant remembered that Eleanor had once represented both families during negotiations over the water-rights agreement. After leaving the company, Eleanor had moved away from Manhattan. Mara did not know where she lived, but she remembered an old office address printed on a letter Daniel had kept.

Isabella found the address in her father’s records. The building now housed several small businesses, but an elderly receptionist remembered Eleanor. She had maintained a private legal practice there for a short time before leaving suddenly. The receptionist could not provide a current address, though she recalled that Eleanor had received correspondence at a coastal property belonging to her late sister.

That was not much to work with, but it was more than Isabella had possessed an hour earlier. She searched public records for the property and found a name connected to a small town several hours outside the city. Before leaving, she sent the information to Alexander and asked him to confirm that he was safe. He did not reply.

Meanwhile, at the Sterling residence, Alexander stood opposite his grandfather in a private study lined with old books and framed photographs. Richard had admitted that Daniel confronted him about the altered agreement, but he refused to explain what happened after the meeting. Instead, he accused Alexander of risking the family’s reputation by reopening a transaction that had been settled years earlier.

Alexander demanded to know why Richard had discouraged the investigation and why Eleanor Thorne’s name had disappeared from the company records. Richard’s face tightened at the mention of Eleanor. He claimed she had been a legal adviser who left after a professional disagreement, but he would not explain the disagreement or identify the person who had replaced her.

Alexander reminded him that the missing payments had helped push Hartwell Designs into default. Richard insisted that business decisions were made according to the information available at the time. When Alexander asked whether that information had been falsified, his grandfather turned away and ended the discussion. The refusal confirmed that Richard knew more than he was willing to reveal.

As Alexander prepared to leave, Richard warned him that Isabella Hart would destroy everything he had inherited. Alexander rejected the accusation. Isabella was searching for answers about her father, and the evidence suggested that someone had manipulated both families. Richard responded that the truth could be more dangerous than the lie, then ordered him not to return until he was prepared to stop the investigation.

Alexander left the residence with a troubling realization. His grandfather had not denied the altered agreement or the missing payments. He had only warned him about what would happen if the truth emerged. Alexander had spent years believing that Sterling Global’s success came from careful decisions and hard work. Now he wondered whether some of the family’s wealth rested on a betrayal that had never been corrected.

He called Isabella while driving away, but the connection failed before he could explain everything. He sent the brief message about Eleanor and instructed his security director to check the company’s archive for her last known contact details. When he reached his apartment, he found an envelope pushed beneath the door. There was no return address, only the divided-circle symbol drawn in black ink.

Inside lay a photocopy of an old letter written by Daniel Hart. The first page described the disputed water-rights agreement and the payments that had vanished from Hartwell’s accounts. The second page was missing. At the bottom of the remaining page, Daniel had written that Eleanor possessed the original agreement and knew who had ordered the changes.

Alexander photographed the letter and sent it to Isabella. He did not know who had delivered the envelope, but its arrival suggested that someone wanted them to continue searching while keeping control of the evidence. The sender could be an ally trying to help them, or a person deliberately guiding them toward a trap.

Isabella received the photograph while preparing to leave for the coastal town. She compared Daniel’s handwriting with the note inside his notebook and found no reason to doubt its authenticity. The letter confirmed that Eleanor was more than a former adviser. She might be the only person who could explain how the original agreement had been replaced and why the financial records had been altered.

She sent Alexander the address and told him she was going there. He called immediately, warning that she should not travel alone. Isabella refused to let fear dictate her decisions, but she agreed to wait until his security director could arrange a safe meeting. They would travel separately and meet near the property, reducing the chance that anyone watching them could identify them as a team.

By late afternoon, Isabella reached the town and found the property at the end of a quiet road overlooking the sea. The house appeared abandoned, its windows dark and its garden overgrown. She checked the address again before approaching the front door. A small brass plate beside the entrance bore the initials L.T., though the lettering had faded with age.

The door was locked. Isabella tried the brass key from Daniel’s notebook, but it did not fit. She was about to call Alexander when she noticed a narrow envelope tucked beneath a loose stone beside the entrance. Her name had been written across it in Daniel’s unmistakable handwriting.

Inside was a single sentence: If Eleanor is gone, look where the river meets the old road.

A car turned onto the road behind her. Isabella stepped away from the entrance and watched the vehicle approach. It slowed beside the gate, but the windows were dark, and she could not see the driver. For several seconds, neither of them moved. Then the car accelerated away, leaving her alone with the letter and a new location to investigate.

Her phone rang. Alexander had finally reached her, and she told him about the envelope and the mysterious car. He asked her to leave the property immediately and wait for him in a public place. Isabella looked toward the sea, wondering whether the message was a genuine clue or another attempt to lead her away from the evidence.

Then she noticed fresh footprints in the damp earth beside the house. They led around the building toward a narrow path descending to the shoreline. Someone had been there recently, and the tracks were too clear to belong to a visitor from several days earlier.

Isabella followed them only far enough to see a small wooden door hidden beneath the rear steps. A new padlock secured it, and a strip of paper had been wedged into the frame. On it was the divided-circle symbol and a date: the night Daniel Hart died.

She backed away, suddenly certain that the house had not been abandoned at all. Someone was using it, and they knew she had arrived.

Her phone vibrated once more. This time, the message came from Alexander.

DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR. I KNOW WHO OWNS THE HOUSE.

Isabella looked at the locked entrance, then at the road where the dark car had disappeared. Alexander’s next call never came. Instead, a final message appeared on her screen.

THE PERSON YOU’RE LOOKING FOR HAS BEEN DEAD FOR THREE YEARS.

She stared at the words, unable to decide whether they referred to Eleanor or someone else connected to the case. The truth was closer than ever, but every answer seemed to open another door hiding a more dangerous secret.