Victor went to the hospital with Samira. He protested until the paramedics threatened to sedate him. Before leaving, he assigned two Sterling security officers to us and made Luna promise not to pursue Voss directly.
She promised.
I knew immediately she intended to interpret “directly” creatively.
The childhood home was not Blackwood.
Richard and Eleanor had raised Luna and Derek in a smaller property outside Boulder before Sterling became large enough for Blackwood to become the family estate. Eleanor had kept the house after they moved.
Nobody lived there now.
“Why?” I asked as we drove.
Eleanor sat beside Derek in the second row.
“Sentiment.”
Derek said, “Guilt.”
His mother looked at him.
“What?”
“You couldn’t sell it because it was the last place we were normal.”
Eleanor did not argue.
Luna stared through the windshield.
I touched her hand between us.
She looked down.
Then threaded her fingers through mine.
Nobody commented.
Not even Derek.
The house stood at the end of a narrow street beneath old cottonwood trees.
It was surprisingly ordinary.
Two stories.
White siding.
Green shutters.
A basketball hoop leaning slightly over the driveway.
“This is where you grew up?”
Luna nodded.
“Until I was fourteen.”
“You had a basketball hoop.”
“Derek played.”
“Luna broke the backboard,” Derek said.
She turned.
“You promised never to tell anyone.”
“You’re married. He deserves informed consent.”
I looked at her.
“You broke it?”
“I was eleven.”
“How?”
“A ladder was involved.”
For three seconds, we were simply people arriving at an old family home.
Then Eleanor unlocked the door.
Dust floated in late-afternoon light.
Furniture remained beneath white covers.
Luna stopped in the hallway.
A pencil mark was visible on the doorframe.
Height measurements.
Derek — 12.
Luna — 9.
Derek — 13.
Luna — 10.
I watched her touch one.
Her father’s handwriting.
“You okay?”
“No.”
Progress.
She was learning to stop lying about that.
Eleanor led us upstairs.
“Richard gave me a package.”
“When?” Luna asked.
“Six days before he died.”
“What did he say?”
“That if anything happened, I should put it somewhere Derek would never look.”
Derek sighed.
“Charming.”
“I asked where that was.”
“What did he say?”
Eleanor almost smiled.
“Luna’s room.”
Derek looked offended.
“Why wouldn’t I look there?”
“Because you spent your childhood insisting your sister’s room was contaminated.”
“I was eight.”
“You continued until twelve.”
“I had principles.”
Luna actually laughed.
Then we entered her childhood bedroom.
The laughter stopped.
The room had been preserved almost exactly.
Books.
A desk.
Old debate medals.
A faded astronomy poster.
I looked at her.
“You liked stars?”
“No.”
Derek leaned against the door.
“She loved them.”
Luna glared.
He shrugged.
“What? We’re revealing childhood secrets.”
I noticed a telescope near the window.
The same kind as the one in Richard’s library.
“He bought you that?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“My tenth birthday.”
Eleanor walked to the closet.
She removed a wooden box from the highest shelf.
Inside was an old sewing kit.
I stared.
“That is your hiding place?”
Eleanor said, “Derek never repaired clothing in his life.”
“Still don’t.”
She removed the tray.
Underneath lay a sealed black envelope.
Richard’s handwriting covered the front.
ELEANOR — ONLY IF NECESSARY.
She handed it to Luna.
Luna opened it.
Inside was a small external drive and another letter.
This one was addressed to both children.
Luna read aloud.
“If you are reading this, then my attempts to contain the consequences of my decisions have failed.”
Derek looked away.
Richard admitted protecting Sterling’s reputation after Thomas exposed Voss.
He called it cowardice.
Not strategy.
Not necessity.
Cowardice.
Luna stopped.
I squeezed her hand.
She continued.
Richard had preserved duplicate records of Voss’s payments, surveillance operations, bribery, and blackmail.
He also admitted something neither child expected.
Derek was not the first Sterling Voss had manipulated.
Richard himself had hired Voss decades earlier to conduct illegal surveillance against a competitor.
Derek whispered, “Of course.”
Luna looked at him.
“What?”
“He always acted like I invented corruption.”
“He was admitting he started it.”
“After he was dead.”
The bitterness was understandable.
Richard wrote that his willingness to tolerate Voss created the environment that later endangered Thomas.
Then he described Celeste Morgan.
Derek stood.
“No.”
Luna stopped reading.
“What?”
“No.”
His face had gone white.
“Keep reading.”
Richard had noticed Celeste four years earlier, shortly after she began dating Derek.
He did not distrust her because of her relationship.
He distrusted her because her name appeared in records associated with a consulting company Voss used.
Derek stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Luna continued.
Richard had ordered an investigation.
Celeste’s mother had worked for Voss’s company.
Celeste herself had received payments from a shell corporation tied to him.
Derek grabbed the letter.
He read the section himself.
“No.”
Eleanor touched his shoulder.
He pulled away.
“She was twenty-eight when we met.”
Luna said quietly, “Richard says payments started before that.”
“For what?”
Nobody knew.
The drive did.
We connected it to a secure laptop one of the security officers carried.
Files opened.
Photographs.
Invoices.
Audio.
A folder labeled C.M.
Celeste Morgan.
The earliest payment was seven years old.
Three years before she met Derek.
Another file contained surveillance photographs.
Thomas.
Mom.
Me.
My stomach turned.
Celeste had helped track my family.
Derek sat on the edge of Luna’s childhood bed.
“She knew who Adam was.”
“Yes,” Thomas said.
“She knew before I did.”
“Yes.”
“And she dated me.”
Thomas did not answer.
Derek looked sick.
“It was an assignment.”
Luna crouched in front of him.
“We don’t know that.”
“You think she accidentally started dating the son of the man Voss was blackmailing?”
“I think we need evidence.”
Derek laughed harshly.
“You sound like Father.”
Luna recoiled.
He regretted it.
“I’m sorry.”
She stood.
I opened another file.
Audio.
Dated eight months earlier.
A woman’s voice.
Celeste.
“Derek still believes the trust gives him a path to control. Luna won’t marry unless forced.”
Voss answered.
“Everyone becomes practical when enough pressure is applied.”
Celeste said, “And Bennett?”
My skin went cold.
Voss replied, “Leave him where he is. Richard put him inside Sterling for a reason. Eventually Luna will notice him.”
Luna and I looked at each other.
Seven months before her proposal.
They had predicted us.
Not romance.
Utility.
Voss understood Richard’s design.
Celeste asked, “What if she chooses someone else?”
Voss said, “Then we make the alternative inconvenient.”
The recording ended.
Luna sat beside me.
“I chose you.”
“Yes.”
“But he expected it.”
“Apparently.”
“Why?”
Thomas answered.
“Because Richard did.”
We turned.
My father stood by the window.
“Richard knew you better than you think.”
Luna’s expression hardened.
“Everyone keeps saying that while describing a man who manipulated my life from beyond the grave.”
“That is fair.”
“Did he intend Adam to become my husband?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I asked.”
I stared.
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
Thomas looked at me.
“After Richard arranged your interview.”
“What did he say?”
“That he wanted you somewhere he could quietly protect you.”
“And Luna?”
“He said you might meet.”
Luna folded her arms.
“Apparently he had opinions.”
“He thought you were lonely.”
Her face changed.
Thomas continued gently.
“He thought Adam was lonely too.”
“That is not a reason to manipulate people.”
“No.”
“Did you approve?”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You told Richard to watch me.”
“I did.”
“So you manipulated me too.”
“Yes.”
No defense.
No excuse.
That made anger harder.
A security officer interrupted.
“Movement outside.”
Everyone froze.
He checked the camera feed from the temporary system they had placed at the entrance.
A vehicle had stopped two houses away.
Black sedan.
Derek stood.
“Celeste.”
We looked.
She stepped out.
Alone.
No weapon visible.
Derek moved toward the door.
Luna blocked him.
“No.”
“She came here.”
“That doesn’t make it safe.”
“She left me that voicemail.”
“She may have brought Voss.”
Derek looked through the window.
Celeste stood beside the car.
Waiting.
Then she raised both hands.
Empty.
“I’m going.”
Luna grabbed his arm.
“Derek.”
He looked at her.
“She was going to be my wife.”
The sentence carried more pain than anger.
“I need to hear it from her.”
We went downstairs together.
Security opened the door but kept us behind cover.
Celeste walked toward the porch.
Her face was streaked with tears.
Derek stepped outside.
“Stop there.”
She did.
“I’m sorry.”
“Were you working for Voss when we met?”
Her face crumpled.
“Yes.”
Derek closed his eyes.
Luna stood beside him.
“For how long?”
“Three years before.”
“What were you supposed to do?”
Celeste looked at Derek.
“Get close.”
He laughed once.
“And you did.”
“Yes.”
“Did any of it become real?”
She started crying.
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
“It did.”
“Did you steal the key from my safe?”
“Yes.”
“Did you give it to Voss?”
“Yes.”
“Did you attack Naomi?”
“No.”
“Did you know he would?”
“No.”
“Did you plant her badge in my office?”
Her expression changed.
“No.”
Everyone went still.
Derek stared.
“What?”
“I didn’t plant anything.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“Celeste.”
“I swear.”
She reached into her coat.
Security weapons rose.
“Slowly.”
She removed a flash drive.
“Voss keeps copies of everything.”
Thomas whispered, “Of course.”
Celeste held it out.
“I took this before I ran.”
“What’s on it?” Luna asked.
“His current operations.”
“Including?”
Celeste looked directly at me.
“Thomas.”
Then at Luna.
“Naomi.”
Then Derek.
“And me.”
Derek’s voice was hollow.
“What does that mean?”
“He was planning to eliminate every person who could connect him to Richard’s files.”
Thomas stepped onto the porch.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Celeste looked toward the road.
“He knows this house.”
A faint red point appeared on her coat.
I saw it before anyone else understood.
“Down!”
I hit Derek and Luna simultaneously.
The window behind us shattered.
Celeste fell.
For one terrible second I thought she had been shot.
Then she crawled behind the stone porch wall.
Security dragged us inside.
Another shot cracked through the front door.
Thomas shouted, “Back!”
Everyone moved.
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the hallway.
And from somewhere behind the house came the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.
Voss had never intended Celeste to walk away.
He had followed her.
And now he was inside.
Click here to continue reading: PART 15: Trapped Inside Luna’s Childhood Home, We Learned Voss Had One Last Partner—and That Richard Had Suspected the Wrong Person
The Morning My Boss Closed Her Office Door, Opened a File About My Life, and Made an Impossible Offer
Part 14 of 26
