Margaret looked at Russell.
“What did you plan?”
Russell took a slow breath.
“Release it.”
Everyone stared.
“All of it?” Daniel asked.
“Everything that could prove criminal conduct.”
Claire shook her head.
“You’d destroy hundreds of lives.”
“I’d expose hundreds of crimes.”
“You’d destroy yourself too.”
Russell smiled sadly.
“I know.”
That was when I finally understood.
Russell hadn’t faked his death just to escape an assassin.
He had prepared to disappear because he intended to destroy the empire that had made him wealthy.
Margaret turned toward me.
“He changed the plan after marrying you.”
Russell looked embarrassed.
“What plan?”
“He was going to vanish alone.”
“And after?”
“He created a trust.”
Hayes’s face hardened.
Russell said, “Most of my fortune goes to victims connected to the files.”
Claire stared at him.
“Most?”
“Nearly all.”
Daniel sat down.
“That’s why the will wasn’t read.”
“Correct.”
Claire laughed once.
“So Emily
