Chapter 3 - The Ledger Beneath the Floor
The warehouse had been abandoned for almost four years.
Yet when Mara entered it that night beside Adrian, the building smelled exactly as she remembered.
Oil.
Rust.
Rain.
Her father.
Mara hated the way memories could ambush a person.
A cracked coffee mug.
An old workbench.
A faded baseball cap hanging from a nail.
She stopped.
Adrian noticed.
"You okay?"
"No."
It was the first honest answer she had given him.
He didn't push.
That surprised her.
Mara walked toward the back office.
Her father had always kept his tools organized.
But someone had destroyed the room.
Drawers overturned.
Cabinets smashed.
Floorboards torn apart.
Someone had searched this place.
Recently.
Mara crouched.
She touched the floor.
"Here."
Adrian looked down.
"What?"
"This board."
She pressed it.
It moved.
Adrian pulled a knife and pried it upward.
Beneath the floor was a metal box.
Inside was a ledger.
Old.
Handwritten.
Filled with names.
Dates.
Payments.
Mara turned the first page.
Then froze.
"What's wrong?"
She pointed.
Her father's name appeared on the first page.
Below it were several others.
And at the bottom was a signature.
Adrian's father.
Mara looked at Adrian.
"Your father paid mine."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"For what?"
Mara turned the page.
The answer was worse.
The ledger documented illegal shipments through Chicago's ports.
Weapons.
Drugs.
Money.
But one column was different.
Children.
Mara's face went pale.
"No."
Adrian grabbed the book.
His eyes moved rapidly.
For the first time, Mara saw genuine horror on his face.
"My father..."
"He was trafficking people."
Adrian slammed the ledger shut.
"Don't say that."
"Why?"
"Because I knew my father was a criminal."
His voice cracked.
"But not this."
Mara stared at him.
Something changed between them.
Until that moment, Adrian had been the monster.
Now she saw something else.
A son discovering that the man who raised him had been worse than he imagined.
Then they heard footsteps.
Adrian immediately pushed Mara behind him.
Four men entered the warehouse.
Guns raised.
"Bellini!"
Adrian drew his weapon.
"Stay behind me."
Mara's pulse exploded.
The lights went out.
Gunfire ripped through the darkness.
Mara screamed.
Adrian grabbed her hand.
They ran.
Through the office.
Down a narrow corridor.
Out a rear door.
Rain hit Mara's face.
They reached an alley.
Adrian stopped.
His hand was bleeding.
"You're shot."
"Graze."
"You call that a graze?"
He looked at her.
"You always this bossy?"
"Only when people are bleeding."
They almost laughed.
Almost.
Then headlights appeared.
A car accelerated toward them.
Adrian pushed Mara against the wall.
The car slammed into a dumpster.
Two men jumped out.
Adrian fired.
The men fled.
Mara stared at him.
"Someone knew we'd come here."
"Yes."
"How?"
Adrian looked at the ledger.
"Because only three people knew about it."
"Who?"
"My attorney."
"My brother."
"And me."
Mara's blood went cold.
"You think your brother betrayed you?"
May you like
Adrian stared into the rain.
"I think my brother has been lying to me for six years."
