Chapter 5 - THE SECRET IN HARRISON COLE'S ACCOUNTS
Roman didn't sleep.
Neither did Chloe.
By dawn, the penthouse had become a command center.
Screens covered the walls.
Financial records.
Shipping data.
Security footage.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Dates.
Locations.
Roman's team worked silently.
Chloe sat at the center of it all.
She had stopped being afraid.
Now she was angry.
“Play that video again.”
Roman's security chief replayed it.
Vanessa appeared.
Harrison looked terrified.
Chloe watched carefully.
Then she noticed something.
“Stop.”
The video froze.
“Zoom in.”
Roman's man enlarged the image.
Harrison's left hand was visible.
He was tapping his fingers against the chair.
Three times.
Pause.
Two times.
Pause.
Three times.
Chloe frowned.
“He's trying to tell us something.”
Roman looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“He does that when he's nervous.”
She counted.
“Three-two-three.”
Roman's eyes narrowed.
“Could be a code.”
“Maybe.”
She thought.
“His first warehouse was on Thirty-Second Street.”
Roman looked at her.
“Three-two.”
“And the third office?”
“Twenty-third floor.”
“Three-two-three.”
Roman immediately ordered his men to check Harrison's old office.
They found a hidden safe.
Inside were encrypted drives.
And one handwritten note.
If Chloe ever sees this, don't trust the person she thinks she knows.
Chloe stared at the sentence.
“What does that mean?”
Roman read it twice.
Then looked at her.
“Someone knew this would happen.”
The drive contained years of financial records.
Harrison had been laundering money.
But the money wasn't going into his accounts.
It was going into another network.
The same network connected to Victoria Voss.
Then they found something else.
A payment made six years earlier.
To a hospital.
Chloe stared at the screen.
“Why would Harrison pay a hospital?”
Roman opened the record.
The patient's name was hidden.
But the date was clear.
December 14.
Six years ago.
Chloe looked at Roman.
“That was the year we met.”
Roman said nothing.
“Roman.”
He continued scrolling.
The payment had been made under a private name.
Elena Costa.
Roman froze.
Chloe immediately noticed.
“Who is Elena?”
His expression changed completely.
“My sister.”
The room became silent.
Roman leaned closer to the screen.
“She disappeared six years ago.”
Chloe's heart pounded.
“The hospital payment was made the week she disappeared.”
Roman looked at her.
“Harrison knew her.”
“Maybe.”
“No.”
Roman's voice was cold.
“He knew exactly where she was.”
The discovery changed everything.
Harrison wasn't merely a businessman who had betrayed his wife.
He had been connected to Roman's family from the beginning.
But before they could investigate further, a new message appeared.
COME TO THE OLD COLUMBUS DOCKS. MIDNIGHT. BRING CHLOE.
Roman's security chief immediately objected.
“It's a trap.”
Roman nodded.
“Of course it is.”
“Then we don't go.”
Roman looked at Chloe.
She was already standing.
“We go.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“My life has been destroyed because people keep making decisions for me.”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“I won't let you walk into an ambush.”
“Then don't let me walk alone.”
Silence.
Roman looked at her.
Something changed between them.
Not love.
Not yet.
Something more dangerous.
Trust.
“Fine,” he said.
“But you stay beside me.”
At midnight, they arrived at the docks.
Rain fell steadily.
The warehouse lights flickered.
Roman and his men entered.
No one was there.
Then a projector turned on.
A photograph appeared.
Elena Costa.
Alive.
Standing beside a little girl.
Roman stopped breathing.
The next photograph appeared.
Harrison.
Vanessa.
Elena.
Together.
Six years earlier.
Chloe whispered:
“She's alive.”
Roman's face was unreadable.
Then another photograph appeared.
Elena was holding a newborn baby.
The date was six years ago.
Roman stared.
“No.”
Chloe looked at him.
“Roman?”
He stepped closer to the screen.
The final image appeared.
A message beneath it.
Your sister has been alive all these years.
Then:
May you like
And the baby is yours.
Roman's world collapsed into silence.
