The Silent Guest

Chapter Nine

Adam's POV

The rain had stopped, but the storm inside Adam Goodman hadn't.

Dawn smeared pale gray light across the mansion's aging walls. He stood at the window of the east bedroom—Laura's old room once, before she moved into the master suite. Now it was his temporary prison, and he hadn't slept.

On the armchair near the fireplace, a familiar object rested under a thin layer of dust: a velvet-covered box that once held their mother's pearls. He remembered the night Laura threw it at him when they were fifteen, screaming that she'd never wear "a dead woman's lies."

He'd never really known what she meant.

Until now.

Adam's hand tightened around the spine of the ledger. Leather-bound. Worn. Heavy like guilt. He had only dared read a few pages, but already it read like an obituary of reputations. And buried inside it were names—real ones. Lawyers, judges, politicians, doctors. All people who had at one time smiled at his father's funeral and whispered condolences with venom in their teeth.

Every secret Richard Goodman never wanted exposed was scrawled in those pages. Dates. Amounts. Recipients. Victims.

And tucked into the center, folded twice and water-stained, was a photograph Adam couldn't stop looking at.

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FLASHBACK – The Rose Garden, Midnight

He'd met Laura behind the old greenhouse, where moonlight barely reached and where the roses had long since strangled themselves in thorns. She was waiting, rain slicking her hair, her coat too thin for the chill.

She didn't say hello. Just held the book out like it burned her.

"Why me?" Adam had asked, staring at the ledger. "Why not take it to the police?"

She looked away. "Because the police are on it."

He scoffed. "That's dramatic."

"No. It's true." Her voice dropped. "And because Elise will find a way to twist it. She always does."

"Elise?"

Laura nodded. "She was there. Before the money. Before our mother died. Before any of it."

Adam had frozen. "You're saying Elise knew about all this?"

"She knew." Laura's eyes shimmered. "And she made herself useful enough to stay. My mother hated her. Said Richard kept her around because she was willing to clean what others wouldn't touch."

Adam's fingers had tightened on the book then. "What do you want me to do with this?"

"Survive," Laura had whispered. "Whatever happens next… it won't be an accident."

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NOW

Adam flinched as the knock came—twice, sharp. He quickly shoved the ledger beneath the mattress, heart thudding like a war drum.

The door cracked open.

An officer stepped in—young, stern-eyed, and visibly uncomfortable. "Detective Kennedy wants a word. Downstairs."

Adam stood slowly. "Is this about Elise?"

The officer hesitated. "Your sister's been talking."

"Claire?"

He nodded. "She told Kennedy you might be hiding something important. And that Elise has reason to want it gone."

Adam's jaw tensed. Claire. He'd worked so hard to keep her hidden—first by Elise's command, then by instinct. Now she was tangled in all of it.

"Did Elise say anything about the ledger?"

"She didn't have to." The officer met his eyes. "Detective Kennedy found a second copy of a will. Dated two years before the one currently in probate."

Adam's breath caught.

"She's building a case. Fast."

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He waited until the officer left, then yanked the ledger from beneath the bed.

This time, he turned deeper into the pages. Page 41. A transaction list. Off-the-books accounts. Transfers in Elise's name—under aliases. "E. V." and "Miss Vee." Multiple payouts. A trail of money from Richard Goodman's shell companies to an account in Switzerland. Then silence.

Then, on page 67, clipped behind a receipt, a contract.

Signed by Elise Vaughn.

Witnessed by Richard Goodman

Subject: guardianship of Claire.

Clause: nondisclosure of paternity.

Amount paid: £1,000,000.

Adam's hands trembled.

The truth was laid out before him like a loaded weapon.

Elise hadn't taken Claire in out of love. She had been paid to hide her. Paid to disappear her from the family tree.

And now, Claire had come back.

And Elise was afraid.

Suddenly, Adam understood something else: Laura hadn't just given him the ledger to protect him. She had done it to warn him.

Because if Elise found out he had it…

She wouldn't hesitate.