Olivia called me the next morning.
I almost didn’t answer.
Then I remembered what she had said at the studio.
Don’t assume he’s telling you everything.
I picked up.
“What do you want?”
“To meet.”
“Why?”
“Because you found the photograph.”
My blood ran cold.
“How do you know?”
“Because Adrian called me last night.”
“What did he say?”
“That you were asking questions.”
I laughed.
“So he asked you to spy on me?”
“No.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because I don’t think you understand what you’re involved in.”
I was silent.
“Where?”
“Hotel Beaumont. One hour.”
I arrived early.
Olivia was already there.
She looked calm.
Almost too calm.
“You knew.”
“Some of it.”
“About me and Adrian?”
“About the past.”
I sat down.
She looked toward the window.
“Your parents and Adrian’s parents were working together.”
“On what?”
“An investment project.”
“That doesn’t explain anything.”
“It was supposed to create a new company.”
“The one that disappeared?”
Her expression changed.
“You found that.”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly.
“The project failed.”
“Why?”
“Someone moved the money.”
“Who?”
“We never found out.”
I stared at her.
“What happened next?”
“Your father blamed Marcus.”
“And Marcus blamed my father.”
“Exactly.”
“What about Isabelle?”
Olivia looked at me.
“Isabelle knew something was wrong.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must know something.”
“I know she was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
Olivia lowered her voice.
I waited.
“Not the Blackwoods either.”
“Then who?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
I stared at her.
“Why are you helping me?”
She smiled sadly.
“Because I thought Adrian and I would eventually marry.”
I said nothing.
“And I was wrong.”
“Do you still love him?”
She considered the question.
“I don’t know.”
That answer surprised me.
Then she stood.
“But I know this.”
She placed a small envelope on the table.
“Adrian wasn’t supposed to meet you that night.”
I looked at the envelope.
“What is this?”
“Something I found years ago.”
I opened it.
Inside was an old event invitation.
My name was handwritten on it.
Not by my mother.
Not by my father.
By someone else.
At the bottom were two words.
Ask Adrian.