Chapter 6 - THE DIVORCE PAPERS
Three weeks later, Tessa served Conrad divorce papers at breakfast.
Not his breakfast.
Hers.
She was sitting inside the Harbor Light Diner eating pancakes when he walked in wearing a charcoal suit that probably cost more than the restaurant’s monthly rent.
Everyone stared.
Conrad ignored them.
He sat opposite her.
Tessa pushed the envelope across the table.
He looked at it.
“I see.”
“That’s all?”
“What would you like me to do?”
She had expected anger.
Negotiation.
Maybe the cold intimidation that had once made half of Boston nervous.
Instead, he opened the envelope.
He read every page.
Then he signed.
Tessa stared.
“You’re not fighting it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you asked to leave.”
He put the pen down.
“And I’m finally learning that loving someone does not mean deciding whether they’re allowed to go.”
Tessa’s throat tightened.
She hated that he had chosen now to say something worth hearing.
“There’s something else.”
Conrad slid another folder across the table.
Inside were property documents.
The diner.
Tessa frowned.
“What is this?”
“I bought the building three years ago when the landlord planned to sell it to developers.”
“You own this place?”
“Technically.”
“Of course you do.”
“I transferred it to Rosa this morning.”
Tessa looked up.
“No conditions?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you once told me this restaurant saved your life after your father died.”
He stood.
“Tessa, I’m sorry.”
She said nothing.
Not because the apology meant nothing.
Because it meant too much.
Conrad left.
Tessa watched him through the window until he disappeared.
Over the next two months, the Voss empire changed.
Conrad closed businesses connected to Meridian.
He sold properties acquired through coercion.
He handed financial records to prosecutors.
Three Voss captains walked away.
Two threatened rebellion.
Conrad let them go.
Boston newspapers called it weakness.
Marcus called it survival.
Tessa called it none of her business.
She rented a small apartment above a bookstore.
She returned to school to finish the accounting degree she had abandoned after her father died.
She helped Rosa expand the diner.
For the first time in years, her life was small.
And entirely hers.
She loved it.
Mostly.
Then, one snowy evening, someone knocked.
Tessa opened the door.
Vivienne stood outside.
“I need help.”
Tessa nearly closed it.
Vivienne raised a folder.
“Sebastian had a partner.”
That stopped her.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Tessa opened the folder.
Inside were financial transfers from Meridian.
One destination appeared repeatedly.
MARLO CONSULTING.
Tessa’s blood went cold.
“That company closed when my father died.”
“No.”
Vivienne pointed to the dates.
Payments had continued.
Last month.
Someone was using Daniel’s identity.
And whoever it was had transferred $8 million two days earlier.
Tessa called Conrad.
He answered on the first ring.
“Tessa?”
Not hello.
Her name.
As though he had been waiting months to hear it.
“We have a problem.”
Twenty minutes later he arrived.
No guards.
No dramatic convoy.
Just Conrad.
He entered her tiny apartment and stopped.
His eyes moved over the secondhand furniture, textbooks, cheap coffee maker.
Tessa expected pity.
Instead he smiled faintly.
“This looks like you.”
She hated how much she liked that.
Vivienne showed him the records.
Conrad’s expression darkened.
“There’s only one person who could reopen Daniel’s accounts.”
“Who?”
Conrad looked at Tessa.
“Daniel himself.”
Tessa laughed.
“My father is dead.”
Conrad did not answer.
Her smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Tessa—”
“I saw the death certificate.”
“I saw a burned body.”
“Conrad.”
“Your father knew Meridian. He knew how to disappear.”
She stepped backward.
“No.”
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Silence.
Then a voice she had not heard in twelve years said:
“Pumpkin?”
Tessa stopped breathing.
Only one person had ever called her that.
May you like
The phone nearly fell from her hand.
“Dad?”
