Chapter 4 — Two Million Dollars
A heavy silence dropped over the entire ballroom. A tall man in a custom gray suit stood near the main entrance.
He looked to be in his early sixties, and he wasn’t watching Harold at all — he was looking straight at me, his expression grave.
Harold let out a tense laugh. “Well — it seems we have an extraordinarily generous donor with us tonight,” he stumbled.
The stranger walked calmly toward the stage while the guests parted to let him through.
“My name is Nathaniel Parsons,” he said when he reached the front.
Several people caught their breath. I knew the name too — a famous venture capitalist, philanthropist, founder of one of the country’s leading investment firms.
Harold thrust out his hand, beaming. “Mr. Parsons, it’s truly an honor to have you here.”
Nathaniel ignored the hand entirely. “I didn’t come tonight to support your foundation,” he said. “I came because I knew your wife would be here.”
Harold’s smile curdled into confusion. “Do you two know each other?”
“I’ve never met this gentleman in my life,” I answered honestly.
Nathaniel held my eyes. “Mrs. Prescott, I need to speak with you tomorrow.
There’s something important you should have learned many years ago.”
“I accept,” I said, before I could think better of it.
Chapter 5 — The Drive Home
On the silent drive home, Harold gripped the wheel until his knuckles went white.
“What did you do to make a man like that offer two million dollars for you?”
“I did nothing,” I said calmly.
He didn’t believe me. That night he called his private investigator and ordered a full background check on Nathaniel Parsons.
By dawn he had a report that drained the color from his face — the businessman had been searching for a woman named Anastasia Monroe for years.