Chapter 5 - The Files in the Lining
Dalia did not give the drive to Rowan.
Not at first.
Trusting him would have been simple if fear were logical. He had protected her from Enzo. He had moved guards without embarrassing her. He had quietly instructed the kitchen to leave plain crackers and ginger tea on the counter every morning without asking why.
But Rowan Fiero was still Rowan Fiero.
He had built an empire out of obedience, silence, and consequences. He could be gentler than Daniel without being safe. A wolf did not become harmless because it chose not to bite one person.
So Dalia waited until two in the morning, borrowed an old laptop from a locked staff office, and opened the drive alone.
The first folder was labeled HALCYON.
Inside were contracts, port manifests, bank transfers, photographs of shipping containers, and scanned signatures belonging to men Dalia had seen walking through Rowan’s estate.
Salvatore Fiero.
Bianca Fiero.
Enzo Fiero.
Isla Marsh.
Daniel Marsh.
Dalia scrolled faster, her stomach turning colder with every document. The files outlined a plan with the clean brutality of people who believed no one outside their circle would ever read it.
The board vote was scheduled for the first Monday of December.
Rowan was expected to announce his engagement to Isla before then.
After marriage, Isla would receive spousal access to certain private trust documents.
Within thirty days, Rowan was to suffer a “medical incident” during travel.
Control of emergency voting shares would pass temporarily to the family council.
Salvatore would chair the council.
Enzo would manage security.
Daniel Marsh would receive shipping access through a shell logistics company.
Isla would receive a widow’s settlement large enough to disappear beautifully.
Dalia stopped scrolling when she saw another file.
ASHFORD.
Her breath caught.
She opened it.
There were photographs of her leaving Daniel’s apartment. Her former workplace. Her old building. A copy of her driver’s license. A note Daniel had written three weeks after she disappeared.
She is pregnant or ill. Find out which.
Below that, a message from Isla.
If pregnant, she cannot be allowed near Rowan. It complicates Daniel’s leverage and exposes motive.
Dalia ran to the bathroom and vomited until nothing remained.
When she returned, Bobby was standing inside her room.
Behind him stood Rowan.
Dalia scrambled backward. “You cannot just come in here.”
“The door was open.”
“No, it was not.”
“Bobby opened it.”
“That does not make it better.”
Rowan’s eyes moved to the laptop.
Dalia reached for it, but he was faster. He did not touch her. He simply turned the screen enough to see.
His face changed.
Not dramatically. Not like a man surprised.
Like a man receiving confirmation of something he had begged himself not to believe.
“How long have you had this?”
Dalia’s voice shook. “Since I left Daniel.”
“And you did not think to mention it?”
“I did not know what was on it.”
“You opened files carrying names of my family at two in the morning instead of waking me?”
“You are one of the names surrounding every reason people die in this house.”
Rowan looked at her.
The anger in his face did not disappear, but it redirected.
“Fair.”
That one word nearly undid her.
Dalia sank onto the bed.
Rowan read in silence for several minutes. Bobby stood between them like a judge.
At last Rowan closed the laptop.
“This is enough to destroy my uncle.”
“Then use it.”
“I will.”
“Good.”
“But not tonight.”
Dalia stared. “Why?”
“Because these files show the shape of the knife, not the hand holding it.”
“Your uncle. Your aunt. Enzo. Isla. Daniel.”
“They are hands. Not the source.”
“What does that mean?”
Rowan sat in the chair across from her, looking suddenly more tired than powerful.
“My father believed someone inside our family arranged my mother’s death. He spent his last year gathering proof. Then he died before he could name them.”
Dalia’s voice softened despite herself. “How?”
“Heart failure. Officially.”
“And unofficially?”
“Men in my family do not die conveniently by accident.”
The room went quiet.
Dalia touched her stomach.
Rowan noticed.
“Daniel knows,” he said.
“About the baby?”
“He suspects.”
“Isla knows.”
“Yes.”
“Then why am I still alive?”
Rowan’s eyes darkened.
“Because they need to know what you copied before they kill you.”
The words landed like ice.
Outside, wind moved through the trees.
Dalia looked at the laptop, then at him.
“What happens when they find out?”
Rowan stood.
May you like
“They will try to take you somewhere no one hears screaming.”
Three weeks later, they did.
