Isabella looked directly at him.
ISABELLA: "Who else?"
Thomas glanced toward the closed door.
Then he placed one final paper on the table.
It was a short internal message, dated several days after Frank's death.
The message instructed the office to stop sending copies of the estate records to Isabella and to direct all future correspondence through Victoria.
At the bottom was a name.
Alexander Montgomery.
Isabella read it slowly.
She looked at Richard.
Then she looked back at Thomas.
ISABELLA: "So my brother knew I was being kept out."
Thomas did not answer.
He did not need to.
Richard picked up the document and examined the date.
RICHARD: "This was issued after Frank's death. It cannot change the original terms of the protected arrangement."
THOMAS: "I know that now."
ISABELLA: "Why did you follow it?"
Thomas looked genuinely uncomfortable.
THOMAS: "I was told the estate's administration had been transferred to the family. I believed the lawyers would handle any legal concerns. I should have asked for confirmation."
ISABELLA: "You should have."
Thomas lowered his eyes.
For a moment, Isabella felt anger rising inside her. She wanted to ask why nobody had challenged the instructions, why no one had contacted her, and why so many people had accepted the idea that she should remain unaware of her father's affairs.
But anger would not give her the missing document.
She needed to understand what had happened next.
ISABELLA: "Did my father ever mention that he wanted me to return to Harbor House?"
Thomas nodded.
THOMAS: "Yes. He spoke about it several times."
ISABELLA: "What did he say?"
THOMAS: "He wanted you to have access to the property. He said you had spent many summers there and that it should remain a place where you could return whenever you needed."
Isabella looked down.
She remembered the old garden, the sound of the waves, and her father's voice calling her back before she wandered too far along the shoreline.
Thomas continued.
THOMAS: "He also asked me to make sure that the property was not sold without proper approval."
RICHARD: "Did you receive any later instruction changing that?"
THOMAS: "No. I received documents that claimed the arrangements had changed, but I never received a clear instruction directly from Frank."
Richard wrote something in his notebook.
RICHARD: "That distinction is important."
Isabella sat back.
She had come into the meeting expecting an explanation. Instead, she was discovering that the people responsible for administering the estate had received conflicting instructions, and that some had chosen to follow orders without verifying whether they were legitimate.
She looked at the folder in front of Thomas.
ISABELLA: "I want copies of everything you have."
THOMAS: "I can provide them."
ISABELLA: "And I want a complete statement of what you personally did, what you were told, and when you received each instruction."
Thomas nodded.
RICHARD: "We will arrange that formally."
Thomas closed the folder.
Before leaving, he looked at Isabella.
THOMAS: "Your father spoke about you often. He wanted you to know that he was proud."
Isabella's eyes lowered.
THOMAS: "He also said that if anything happened to him, you should never allow anyone to make you feel that you had no right to ask questions."
She looked up.
ISABELLA: "Did he say why?"
Thomas hesitated.
THOMAS: "He said the truth had a way of becoming more complicated when people were afraid of losing control."
The words stayed with Isabella after Thomas left.
Richard gathered the documents.
RICHARD: "We now have a clearer timeline, but we still need the original authorization and the full company records."
ISABELLA: "And the missing Harbor House document."
RICHARD: "Yes."
ISABELLA: "I know where we may find it."
Richard looked at her.
ISABELLA: "The estate."
Richard nodded slowly.
RICHARD: "Then we will need to approach that carefully. We should not enter or remove anything without proper authority."
ISABELLA: "I understand."
She stood and picked up her father's letter.
For the first time since the gala, she felt that she was no longer simply reacting to what her family had done. She was beginning to understand the structure of the problem.
The truth was not yet complete.
But the silence that had protected it for years was finally breaking.
And somewhere inside the Montgomery estate, there was still a document that could reveal exactly who had changed her father's final instructions.
The Montgomery estate looked exactly as Isabella remembered it. The tall iron gates, the stone driveway, and the perfectly trimmed gardens had barely changed. Yet as she stepped out of the car beside Richard, the place no longer felt like home.
They had arranged a formal appointment to inspect the estate records. An independent representative was present, ensuring that no documents would be removed or altered improperly.
Victoria waited inside the library. Alexander stood beside the fireplace, his arms crossed.
VICTORIA: "I never thought you would come back like this."
ISABELLA: "I'm here for Father's documents. Nothing more."