Chapter 4 - The Truth He Buried

Arabella drove home with her father’s message burning in her thoughts.

Do not discuss this with Adrian. Come home. We need to talk.

It was not a denial. It was not even an explanation. It was a warning, and she was beginning to understand that the Montgomery family had been keeping more than one secret.

Richard was waiting in his study when she arrived. The curtains were drawn, and several folders lay open across his desk. He looked as though he had aged overnight.

“You wanted to talk,” Arabella said, closing the door behind her. “I’m here.”

He gestured to the chair, but she remained standing.

“Start with the Knight family.”

Richard removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Twenty years ago, your grandfather and Adrian’s father entered into a business partnership. They were developing a property project on the waterfront. It was supposed to be one of the largest investments in Westhaven.”

“What happened?”

“The project collapsed. There were allegations of financial misconduct, missing funds, and falsified records. The Knights lost a great deal of money. Their company nearly went under.”

“And ours survived.”

“Yes.”

The single word hung between them.

Arabella folded her arms. “That sounds convenient.”

“It was complicated.”

“That’s what people say when they don’t want to explain something.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue.

“Your grandfather maintained that the Montgomery company had followed the agreement. The Knights believed they’d been cheated. The matter went through lawyers, and eventually the partnership ended. Neither family ever recovered its reputation completely.”

“But Adrian thinks we stole from them.”

“He believes his father was betrayed.”

“Was he?”

Richard looked away.

Arabella felt a chill crawl up her spine. “Dad.”

“I was young when it happened. I wasn’t involved in the original negotiations, and your grandfather never told me everything. I only know what the records showed and what I was told.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“It’s the truth, Arabella.”

“Then why are you afraid of Adrian asking questions?”

“I’m not afraid of him.”

“Really? Because you looked terrified when I mentioned his name.”

Richard stood and walked to the window. “Adrian has spent years rebuilding his family’s business. He believes that exposing the old scandal will give him justice. But there are people who could be hurt if he starts digging through everything again.”

“Who?”

He turned back to her. “Your family. Our employees. People who had nothing to do with what happened twenty years ago.”

“Or you?”

His face hardened. “You think I did this?”

“I don’t know what to think. You won’t tell me enough to decide.”

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Then Richard returned to his desk and opened one of the folders.

“The company is facing pressure from lenders. Some of our investments have lost value, and an old financial arrangement has come back into question. Adrian’s lawyers have been asking for documents related to the waterfront project.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I hoped we could resolve it quietly.”

“Quietly for whom?”

He closed the folder. “I was trying to protect you.”

Arabella shook her head. “You keep saying that as though it makes everything acceptable.”

“I’m asking you not to contact Adrian about this. Whatever he tells you, remember that he has his own reasons for wanting the Montgomery name dragged through the mud.”

“And you have your reasons for keeping me in the dark.”

Pain crossed his face, but she was too angry to take it back.

“There’s something else,” Richard said. “If Adrian approaches you with a proposal, don’t agree to anything without speaking to me first.”

“What kind of proposal?”

“I don’t know. But a man like Adrian doesn’t make a move without calculating what it will cost him.”

Arabella thought of the way he’d watched her at the gala, as if he had already decided something about her.

“Does this have anything to do with Sebastian?”

Her father frowned. “Why would you ask that?”

“Because he was strangely interested in your phone call last night. And when Adrian mentioned our finances, Sebastian looked as though he’d heard something familiar.”

Richard’s silence returned.

“Dad?”

“I can’t speak for Sebastian. You need to ask him what he knows.”

It was the first useful thing he’d said all morning, but it did little to settle her nerves.

Arabella picked up her bag.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To find out whether my fiancé has been lying to me.”

“Arabella, be careful.”

She paused at the door. “I wish someone had been careful enough to tell me the truth before it became a crisis.”

Then she left him alone with his folders and the history he still refused to explain.

Outside, she called Sebastian. He answered after several rings.

“Hey, beautiful. Is everything okay?”

“I need to see you.”

“Of course. What’s happened?”

“Let’s meet for lunch.”

There was a pause—brief, but noticeable.

“Today?”

“Yes, Sebastian. Today.”

“All right. I’ll send you the address.”

When the call ended, Arabella stared at her phone. She wanted to believe there was a simple explanation for everything. She wanted her father to be honest and Sebastian to be the man she thought she knew.

But wanting something did not make it true.

And somewhere across Westhaven, Adrian Knight was pulling at a thread that could unravel her entire life.

For the first time, Arabella wasn’t sure which frightened her more: what he might uncover, or what her own family had buried.