Arthur: Matthew... my dear boy... can you forgive an old man who was too blind to see the truth?
Arthur dropped to his knees in front of the small boy, his hands trembling as he reached out toward his grandson.
Matthew: Mommy said you had a good heart, Granddad. She said you were just surrounded by dark shadows.
Lily: Granddad cries every night in his room, Matthew. He has a photo of your mom on his desk.
Matthew: I have a photo too. Inside my watch ring.
Matthew pressed a tiny catch on the side of the gold signet ring. The top flipped open, revealing a microscopic, crystal-clear portrait of Eleanor smiling brightly in a garden.
Arthur buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with deep, heavy sobs as he looked at the picture of his lost daughter.
Arthur: I am so sorry, Eleanor... I am so, so sorry...
Richard: Arthur, stand up. We need to go somewhere private and look at this drive together.
Clara: I'll bring the laptop to the VIP suite upstairs, Mr. Vance.
Richard: Thank you, Clara. Make sure the venue manager clears out the rest of these guests quietly.
Ten minutes later, inside the quiet luxury suite on the top floor, Richard plugged the silver memory card into an encrypted laptop. Arthur sat in an armchair with Lily on his lap, while Matthew sat beside Richard, holding a warm mug of hot chocolate.
The laptop screen flickered to life, opening a series of high-resolution documents, audio recordings, and bank statements.
Richard: Look at these transfers. Victoria used offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands to drain forty percent of Sterling Financial's liquid assets over five years.
Arthur: She was framing Eleanor for the missing funds... she made it look like Eleanor was transferring the money to a secret account in London.
Richard: And here is the audio file recorded on the night of Eleanor's car crash.
Richard pressed play, and Eleanor's soft, familiar voice filled the silent room, accompanied by the muffled sound of rain hitting a windshield.
Eleanor's Voice: "If anything happens to me, Richard... know that I love you. I'm leaving Matthew with the ring and the code. Victoria hired a mechanic named Marcus to cut my brake lines at the garage. Please... protect our boy."
Richard closed his eyes, his knuckles turning white as he squeezed the edge of the desk. Tears tracked down his face, but his expression remained fiercely set.
Richard: Marcus... that was Victoria's personal driver. He's still on your payroll, Arthur.
Arthur: Not anymore. I'll have my security team hold him until the detectives arrive at the estate.
Lily: Uncle Richard... is Matthew going to stay with us now?
Richard: Matthew lives with me, Lily. But from today on, you and your grandfather are part of our family again.
Matthew: Does that mean I can play the hand code game with Lily every day?
Arthur: As much as you want, my boy. That hand code was created by my father during the war to keep our family safe. It was meant to unite us, not separate us.
Matthew smiled, holding up his right hand and twirling his index fingers in a swift circle, ending with a thumb pressed against his palm.
Lily: He signed 'Family is forever!'
Arthur: Yes it is, Matthew. Yes it is.