I Married My Sister's Killer

Chapter 8 — Elena Comes Through

Elena shows up at ten in the morning with two coffees and a flash drive.

She doesn't knock loudly. She texts me from the driveway: I'm outside. Come down alone.

I find her parked at the side entrance, engine still running, sunglasses on despite the overcast sky. She hands me a coffee through the window without a word and waits until I've gotten into the passenger seat to speak.

"I found him."

The words land quietly but they hit like something much louder.

"Who?"

"The man Iris was meeting the month before she died." She sets the flash drive on the center console between us. "His name is Daniel Reeves. He was a financial compliance consultant. Past tense — he's dead. Car accident, six weeks after Iris."

I stare at the flash drive. "That's not a coincidence."

"No. It's not." Elena pulls off her sunglasses and turns to look at me. She looks tired in the way people look when they've been scared for a long time and gotten very good at not showing it. "Wren, I need you to hear me when I say this: I think we're already in the middle of something. Whatever Iris found, it wasn't just about money. It was about someone protecting something bigger."

"Voss Capital."

"Voss Capital," she confirms. "And whoever controls it."

I pick up the drive. It's small and plain, the kind you buy in bulk from an office supply store. "What's on this?"

"Copies of what Reeves sent Iris. I found his old email address through a mutual contact — he'd CC'd a backup server on everything. The account was dormant but not deleted." She pauses. "It took me three days and a favor I'm not going to explain."

"Elena —"

"Don't thank me yet." She puts her sunglasses back on and picks up her coffee. "The files are password protected. I couldn't get in. But based on the file names alone — there are references to something called Project Meridian."

Project Meridian.

I turn the name over. It means nothing to me yet. But the way she says it — careful, precise — tells me it meant something to Iris.

"Does Damian know about this?"

Elena is quiet for a moment. "That's the question, isn't it."

"Elena."

"I don't know," she says. "I honestly don't know which side he's on. But I know his father is at the center of this. And I know that whatever Iris had on them was enough to get her killed."

I sit with that. The coffee is warm in my hands. Outside, the estate grounds stretch out wide and manicured and completely still.

"I need a password," I say finally.

"You need Damian's files."

I look at her.

"Wren. I know what I'm asking."

"You're asking me to go through my husband's private files while living under his roof."

"I'm asking you to find out who killed your sister."

The words don't soften the weight of what she's saying. But they don't have to.

I pocket the flash drive. "Give me a few days."

Elena nods. She starts the engine. I know it's my cue to get out, and I do — but she calls my name before I close the door.

"He watches you."

"I know."

"I mean differently than you think." She meets my eyes. "Be careful with that."

I close the door.

I stand on the gravel and watch her drive away, and I try not to think about what she meant.

I fail.