Chapter 2 - THE BLUE ENVELOPE
Lianna looked stunned when she opened the door and saw Malcolm Reed.
Not frightened.
Not confused.
Angry.
“You.”
Malcolm removed his hat.
“Mrs. Prescott.”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know.”
“Then leave.”
Malcolm did not.
“I’ve been trying to find you.”
“For what?”
“To correct something that should have been corrected years ago.”
Lianna’s expression hardened.
“Too late.”
Then she saw Corbin coming up the walkway behind him.
Everything in her face disappeared.
“Mr. Stanford?”
Corbin stopped at the bottom of the steps.
There was no believable explanation.
He chose the least dishonest one.
“I followed you.”
Her eyes widened.
He immediately added:
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like what it is.”
“Yes.”
Malcolm turned.
“Corbin?”
“You knew she worked for me?”
Malcolm stared.
“No.”
Lianna looked between them.
Then understanding arrived.
“You’re his family attorney.”
Malcolm said quietly:
“Yes.”
She laughed once.
No humor.
“Of course.”
A baby began crying inside.
Lianna looked over her shoulder.
The sound changed everything.
She hesitated.
Then opened the door wider.
“Five minutes.”
---
The apartment was smaller than Corbin expected.
Not dirty.
Not chaotic.
Small.
A bassinet near the sofa.
Laundry drying on a rack beside a radiator.
Formula container on the kitchen counter.
Nearly empty.
There it was.
Twenty-eight dollars.
Real.
Not abstract.
A baby boy cried from a portable crib.
Lianna lifted him.
Austin.
Perhaps seven months old.
Dark hair.
Sleepy eyes.
He settled almost immediately against her shoulder.
Corbin looked away.
It felt too private.
---
Malcolm placed his briefcase on the table.
“I am sorry about Nathaniel.”
Lianna laughed bitterly.
“You’re four years late.”
“Yes.”
“Did Mr. Stanford send you?”
Corbin answered:
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Your father?”
Malcolm said:
“Theodore died last year.”
“I know.”
Her voice contained nothing.
Malcolm continued:
“I waited too long even after that.”
Lianna’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
He opened the briefcase.
Removed a letter.
“I found this while closing Theodore’s private estate files.”
Lianna did not take it.
“What is it?”
“An instruction concerning Nathaniel.”
Corbin stepped closer.
“What instruction?”
Malcolm looked at him.
“Your father ordered me never to contact Nathaniel again.”
Corbin went still.
“Why?”
Lianna answered before Malcolm.
“Because Nathaniel refused to lie for him.”
Silence.
Corbin looked at her.
“What happened?”
Lianna shifted Austin higher against her shoulder.
Then walked to a small cabinet.
From the bottom drawer, she removed an old blue envelope.
Faded.
Bent at one corner.
Sealed once, then reopened.
She placed it on the table.
Malcolm’s face changed.
“You kept it.”
Lianna stared at him.
“I kept everything.”
Corbin looked at the handwriting across the front.
LIANNA — IF THEY EVER COME ASKING, DO NOT GIVE THEM THIS UNTIL YOU KNOW WHY.
Nathaniel’s handwriting.
Corbin did not know how he knew.
He simply did.
Lianna opened the envelope.
Inside were photocopies.
Emails.
Accounting ledgers.
Inspection reports.
And one handwritten letter.
Malcolm whispered:
“My God.”
Lianna’s eyes filled.
“This is why Nathaniel died believing your family hated him.”
Corbin looked up.
“What is it?”
She met his eyes.
May you like
“Proof your father stole from his own company.”
---
