Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT THE REAPER DISAPPEAREDFor the first time in my life, I lost control.
I wanted to burn everything.
Every warehouse.
Every account.
Every person who had ever worked for Adrian.
Marcus stopped me.
“You can't.”
“He has Noah.”
“Exactly.”
Evelyn grabbed my arm.
“Roman, listen.”
I turned.
Her eyes were wet.
“If you go after him blindly, you die.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
That stopped me.
She stepped closer.
“I've already lost my family once.”
Her voice broke.
“I won't lose you too.”
I stared at her.
Then I kissed her.
It wasn't planned.
It wasn't gentle.
It was desperate.
Sixteen years of grief and fear collided in one moment.
When we separated, she whispered:
“You're an idiot.”
“I know.”
“But you're my idiot.”
I almost smiled.
Then Marcus found the location.
An abandoned textile mill.
Noah was there.
So was Adrian.
We went in with a small team.
The first floor was empty.
The second was empty.
Then Goliath barked.
We found Noah in a locked office.
He was unharmed.
Adrian was gone.
Noah ran to me.
I grabbed him.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded.
“He kept asking me about Goliath.”
“Why?”
Noah looked confused.
“He said the dog had something.”
I froze.
The collar.
We rushed back to the estate.
Goliath's collar was missing.
Adrian had taken it.
Inside the metal capsule was the original ledger.
And the ledger contained enough evidence to destroy half of my empire.
But Adrian didn't understand something.
My father had created a second ledger.
One he had never told anyone about.
I remembered the photograph.
The broken toy soldier.
The one I had given Evelyn.
I searched the old family archives.
Nothing.
Then I remembered.
When I was eleven, my father had told me:
“Never trust the soldier with the hollow chest.”
I found the toy.
Its chest opened.
Inside was a tiny key.
Evelyn stared at it.
“What does it open?”
“My father's vault.”
We traveled to Manhattan.
The vault had been sealed for sixteen years.
The key worked.
Inside was a single box.
And a letter.
I opened it.
Roman,
If you're reading this, Adrian has probably betrayed you.
I stopped.
My father's handwriting continued.
There is something you must understand. Adrian did not act alone.
A second name appeared.
Victor Hale.
My stomach tightened.
Victor.
The man who had buried me.
My adviser.
The man who had arranged the assassination.
My father's letter revealed the truth.
Victor had manipulated Adrian for years.
Adrian wanted power.
Victor wanted control.
And the final line changed everything.
The ledger is not the true weapon. The person who knows where it came from is.
Evelyn read over my shoulder.
“Who?”
I turned the page.
A photograph fell out.
A woman.
Evelyn stared.
Her face went white.
“That's my mother.”
On the back:
She is alive.
Evelyn dropped into a chair.
For sixteen years, she had believed her mother was dead.
Now we knew.
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She had been imprisoned.
And Victor knew where.
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