Chapter 4 - THE NAME IN THE LEDGER
We drove to Pittsburgh before sunrise.
Adrian insisted on bringing security.
I insisted on going.
Grant sat in the front.
I sat beside Adrian in the back.
For three hours, neither of us spoke.
Finally, Adrian broke the silence.
“If Michael says your mother was murdered…”
“I know.”
“You don't.”
I looked at him.
“I've spent seventeen years being told she died. I've had seventeen years to imagine every possibility.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
“You don't.”
He looked at me.
“My mother was all I had.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“So was Michael.”
That ended the argument.
Michael Bennett was seventy-one when we found him.
He was thin.
His hair was white.
He walked with a cane.
But his eyes were sharp.
The moment he saw me, he cried.
“Rebecca's daughter.”
I nodded.
He reached for my hand.
“I knew you'd come.”
“How?”
“Your mother believed Adrian would eventually find the frame.”
Adrian stared.
“She knew?”
Michael nodded.
“She trusted you.”
Adrian looked away.
Michael sat.
“She always did.”
I felt tears rising.
“Tell me what happened.”
Michael took a breath.
“Your mother discovered that Adrian's father, Victor Vale, had created a network of shell companies to move money through Philadelphia and New Jersey.”
Adrian listened silently.
“Rebecca copied the records.”
“Why?”
“Because she intended to expose him.”
“And you helped her?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Michael's face hardened.
“Victor found out.”
He explained that Rebecca had arranged to leave Philadelphia with me.
But before she could, Victor intercepted her.
She escaped.
Barely.
She hid me with a trusted friend.
Then returned for the documents.
That was the last time Michael saw her alive.
“Did Victor kill her?”
“I didn't see him do it.”
I closed my eyes.
“But?”
“I saw his men take her.”
Adrian's fists tightened.
“What happened next?”
“I tried to go to the police.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“I was arrested before I reached the station.”
“On what charge?”
“Drug possession.”
“Was it real?”
“No.”
“Who arranged it?”
“Victor.”
Adrian looked sick.
“And you?”
“I was given a choice.”
Michael stared at him.
“Disappear forever or watch everyone around you die.”
“So you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Victor tell Adrian you were dead?”
“Because Adrian was starting to ask questions.”
That explained everything.
Victor had fed his son carefully constructed lies.
He told Adrian that Rebecca betrayed him.
That Michael died.
That Nora had been taken overseas.
That the entire situation was the result of enemies.
Adrian had believed him.
Because he had no reason not to.
Until now.
Michael reached beneath his chair.
He removed a small leather ledger.
“This is what your mother died protecting.”
Adrian stared.
“What is it?”
“Names.”
I opened it.
Pages of handwritten entries.
Dates.
Payments.
Companies.
Judges.
Officials.
Business owners.
Security contractors.
Some names belonged to people who were now dead.
Others were still powerful.
Then I saw one name.
Grant Mercer.
I looked up.
Grant had followed us into the room.
His face was unreadable.
Adrian slowly turned.
“Explain.”
Grant stared at the ledger.
“I was twenty-two.”
“That isn't an explanation.”
“My father worked for Victor.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“I knew about the accounts.”
“How much?”
“Not everything.”
“Did you know about Rebecca?”
Grant swallowed.
“I knew she was being watched.”
I stepped forward.
“Did you know she was alive?”
“No.”
“Did you know about Michael?”
“No.”
Adrian's voice became cold.
“Why didn't you tell me about your father?”
“Because he threatened my mother.”
Adrian stared.
Then looked at me.
For a moment, it seemed the entire structure of his world was collapsing.
Grant continued.
“Your father wasn't the only person involved.”
“Who else?”
Grant pointed toward the ledger.
“Read the last page.”
I turned it.
At the bottom was a list of seven names.
The same seven families represented by the women Adrian had invited to Vale House.
My stomach dropped.
The dinner had not been about marriage.
It had been about identifying which family was still working for Victor's old network.
Adrian realized it too.
“The seven women.”
Grant nodded.
“One of their families is financing an attempt to take control of your legitimate businesses.”
“Which one?”
Grant looked at me.
“We don't know.”
Then the hospital alarm sounded.
A nurse rushed into the room.
“Mr. Bennett?”
Michael looked up.
“Yes?”
“Someone just attempted to enter your room.”
Adrian stood.
“Who?”
The nurse shook her head.
“He left before security arrived.”
“What did he look like?”
The nurse hesitated.
“An older man.”
“Describe him.”
She looked toward Adrian.
“Gray hair.”
My stomach tightened.
“What else?”
“He had a scar near his left eye.”
Adrian went pale.
“That was my father's scar.”
But Victor Vale had been dead for six years.
Or so everyone believed.
May you like
And on the hospital corridor camera, the man had left carrying one thing.
The original wooden frame.
