Chapter 4 - The Attorney Who Came After DarkCorbin crossed the street.
Harrison was already leaving the building.
“Corbin.”
The attorney looked shaken.
“What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
Harrison tightened his grip on his briefcase.
“This doesn't concern you.”
“Everything involving Stanford Development concerns me.”
“Not this.”
Corbin blocked his path.
“What is inside that envelope?”
Harrison looked toward Lianna's apartment.
“Go home.”
“My father said the same thing.”
“That might be the first intelligent advice Richard has given you in years.”
Corbin stared at him.
Harrison had served the Stanford family for almost thirty years.
He had attended birthdays.
Funerals.
Weddings.
He had known Corbin since childhood.
Corbin had never heard him speak about Richard with such contempt.
“What happened four years ago?”
Harrison's expression softened.
“Something your grandfather tried desperately to fix before he died.”
“My grandfather?”
Harrison nodded.
“And something Malcolm made sure remained buried afterward.”
Uncle Malcolm.
Corbin's father's younger brother.
Chief financial officer of Stanford Development.
The man who controlled nearly every major financial transaction inside the company.
“What did Malcolm do?”
Before Harrison could answer, Lianna appeared behind them.
“Mr. Stanford.”
Her voice was cold.
Corbin turned.
She was standing beneath the apartment entrance awning, holding the blue envelope against her chest.
“You followed me.”
Corbin felt immediate shame.
“Yes.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I was bringing groceries and formula. I intended to leave them outside.”
Lianna looked toward his car and saw the bags through the rear window.
Her anger softened slightly.
But only slightly.
“You should have asked.”
“You're right.”
Rain fell around them.
Harrison sighed.
“Perhaps all three of us should go upstairs.”
Lianna shook her head.
“No.”
Then she looked directly at Corbin.
“Before you enter my home, I want one answer.”
“Ask.”
“Did your family kill my husband?”
The question hit him harder than any accusation he had expected.
“I don't know.”
Lianna's eyes filled with tears.
“That's what Daniel told me before he died.”
Corbin stopped breathing.
“What?”
“He came home three nights before the accident.”
Her voice trembled.
“He was terrified.”
“He gave me this envelope and said if anything happened to him, I should never give it to a Stanford.”
Corbin glanced at Harrison.
“Then why are you showing him?”
Lianna looked at the attorney.
“Because Daniel specifically said Harrison Cole wasn't one of them.”
Silence.
Harrison closed his eyes.
Corbin felt something shift beneath everything he believed about his family.
“What's inside?”
Lianna opened the envelope.
There were photographs.
Bank statements.
Copies of contracts.
And a small flash drive.
But one photograph sat on top.
Corbin picked it up.
It showed his grandfather, Samuel Stanford, standing beside Daniel Prescott.
They were shaking hands.
Behind them was a construction site.
On the back, Daniel had written five words.
CORBIN MUST KNOW THE TRUTH.
Corbin stared at his own name.
“Why me?”
Harrison looked at him sadly.
“Because your grandfather trusted you.”
“Trusted me with what?”
May you like
Harrison answered.
“The company he knew your uncle was stealing.”
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