Richard’s face had gone very still.
I continued.
Do not inherit my grudges simply because you inherit my name.
I had to stop.
The room had become too quiet.
I took a breath.
Then turned the page.
There was more about the neighborhood.
About my mother.
About the company.
And one paragraph about me.
You were six when I left Caldwell Mercer. You asked why I no longer went to “the office with the big trees.”
I told you the project was finished.
That was not true.
I was finished with it.
There is a difference.
Someday, Victoria, you will have to decide whether leaving something behind means you lost it, escaped it, or simply completed your part.
Nobody else can decide that for you.
I lowered the letter.
For years, I had believed my father left the past cleanly.
Now I realized he had carried it quietly.
Richard wiped his eyes with his thumb and looked embarrassed by it.
“He wrote that?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
I read the final paragraphs silently.
Then I frowned.
“What?”
Richard leaned forward.
“My father says there were two copies of the original Larksburg agreement.”
Richard nodded.
“One for each partner.”
“He says his copy stayed here.”
“That would make sense.”
I looked into the compartment.
There was nothing else.
“It’s gone.”
Richard frowned.
“What?”
“The agreement.”
I handed him the letter.
His eyes moved quickly across the page.
Then stopped.
“That document isn’t important anymore.”
“Why mention it?”
“I don’t know.”
I searched the compartment again.
Nothing.
Ethan returned carrying three bottles of water.
He took one look at our faces.
“What happened?”
“My father left another document here.”
“Something important?”
Richard answered before I could.
“Historically, maybe. Legally, probably not.”
Ethan handed me a bottle.
“What was it?”
“The original partnership agreement.”
He froze.
I noticed.
So did Richard.
“What?” I asked.
Ethan looked uncomfortable.
“I’ve seen one.”
Richard stared at him.
“Where?”
“In your study.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Ethan, there are hundreds of contracts in my study.”
“This one said Caldwell Mercer across the top.”
Richard stood.
