Chapter 6: The Man Who Knew Adrian's Father
His name was Raymond Lau.
Adrian had met him twice.
Once at his father's funeral, standing near the back in a dark suit, speaking to no one.
Once at a dinner, three years before that, where his father had introduced him only as an old associate and moved the conversation along quickly.
Adrian had not thought about Raymond Lau in years.
He thought about him now.
He sat in the kitchen — not the study, not the sitting room, somewhere Vanessa would not come looking — and he called his father's former personal assistant.
A woman named Grace who had worked for the family for twenty-two years and retired quietly two years after his father passed.
She picked up on the third ring.
"Adrian," she said.
"It's been a long time."
"Grace.
I need to ask you about someone.
Raymond Lau."
A pause.
Not a long one.
But long enough.
"What do you want to know?" she asked.
"How did he know my father?"
Another pause.
"How much time do you have?"
Adrian looked at the kitchen door.
"As much as you need."
Grace took a breath.
"Raymond Lau managed certain investments for your father.
Private ones.
Not through the main firm.
Starting about six years before your father passed."
"What kind of investments?"
"I don't know all the details.
I was never meant to.
But I know that in the last two years of your father's life, Raymond was in that office more than anyone.
More than the lawyers.
More than your father's brothers." She paused.
"More than you."
Adrian was quiet.
"There was a document," Grace continued.
"I prepared it for signing.
I was not told what it was.
I only know it was signed three months before your father passed, and Raymond Lau was the only other person in the room."
"What happened to that document?"
"I don't know.
I never saw it again.
When the estate was settled, your father's main lawyer — not Mr.
Holt, the other one, Mr.
Prescott — he handled everything very quickly.
Faster than I expected.
I thought it was strange at the time, but I was retiring and I told myself it wasn't my business."
"Is Mr.
Prescott still practicing?"
"He retired eighteen months ago.
Suddenly.
He sold his house and moved abroad." Grace paused.
"I always thought that was strange too."
Adrian pressed his thumb against the edge of the kitchen table.
"Grace," he said.
"Is it possible that something was changed?
In my father's estate.
Something I was never told about."
Grace was quiet for a moment.
"Adrian," she said carefully.
"I think it's possible that what you inherited was not everything your father intended you to have."
The kitchen was very still.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Adrian asked.
Not with anger.
With genuine confusion.
"Because I had no proof.
Only a feeling.
And a document I never read, signed by a man who was dying, witnessed by a man I didn't trust." She exhaled.
"I'm sorry.
I should have said something years ago."
"You're saying it now," Adrian said.
"That's what matters."
He thanked her.
He ended the call.
He sat for a moment with his hand flat on the table.
Then Olivia appeared in the kitchen doorway, still holding her phone.
She looked at her father's face and stopped.
"Dad," she said quietly.
"How bad is it?"
He looked at his daughter.
Seventeen years old.
Sharp enough to record what happened in the garden.
Sharp enough to know, before he did, that Vanessa would lie.
"I don't know yet," he said honestly.
"But I'm going to find out."
Olivia crossed the kitchen and sat down across from him.
She placed her phone on the table between them.
"There's something else," she said.
"I didn't want to say it in front of Mrs.
Chen."
Adrian waited.
"The night you were in Singapore," Olivia said.
"The Tuesday Mrs.
Chen wrote about.
I was home.
I heard what happened." She looked at the table.
"I was scared.
I didn't know what to do.
And after, Vanessa told me that if I said anything, she would tell you that I had been lying about my grades and that I'd been sneaking out at night." She looked up.
"I hadn't been.
But I was scared you'd believe her."
Adrian looked at his daughter for a long moment.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"I'm sorry I made you feel like you couldn't come to me."
Olivia's jaw tightened.
She nodded once.
She was trying not to cry.
"You came to me today," he said.
"With the video.
That took courage."
"I was so angry," she said.
"I just — I couldn't let her do it again."
Adrian reached across the table and covered her hand with his.
"She won't," he said.
"I promise you."
Down the hall, a door closed.
Then footsteps.
Then silence.
Olivia looked toward the hallway.
"She's moving around."
Adrian stood.
"I know."
"Dad." Olivia picked up her phone.
"I backed the video up.
Three places.
She can't delete it."
He looked at her.
"When did you do that?"
"About thirty seconds after I took it," Olivia said.
Despite everything, something moved across Adrian's face that was almost a smile.
"Go check on Lily," he said.
"Stay with her tonight."
Olivia nodded and stood.
She was almost at the door when she stopped.
"The man Vanessa called," she said.
"I heard the name through the wall.
Raymond.
She said it twice."
Adrian went still.
May you like
"I know," he said quietly.
"I know who he is."
