Chapter 4 - WHAT DANIEL MARLO STOLE
Conrad refused the hospital.
Tessa refused his mansion.
They compromised on a private medical office belonging to Dr. Ethan Mercer, a surgeon who had patched up more Voss men than any legitimate physician should have.
“You need stitches,” Ethan said.
“I need five minutes.”
“You need eight stitches.”
“Then sew quickly.”
Tessa stood by the window.
She hated herself for staying.
But someone had tried to kill her.
And Conrad had taken the bullet meant for her.
When Ethan finished, Conrad put his shirt back on.
“Tessa, your father didn’t steal money.”
She turned.
“He stole evidence.”
Conrad placed a flash drive on the table.
“Victor Voss ran something called Meridian. Politicians, developers, police officers, judges. Bribes hidden inside construction contracts.”
“My father found it?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you lie?”
“Because I helped him.”
Tessa stared.
Conrad continued.
“I was twenty-three. I thought I could take my father down without destroying everyone around him. Daniel copied the ledgers. I arranged a meeting with federal investigators.”
“What happened?”
“Someone betrayed us.”
“Who?”
“I believed it was Daniel.”
Pain flickered across his expression.
“My father showed me evidence that Daniel had taken five million dollars and disappeared.”
“But he died.”
“I know that now.”
Tessa slowly removed the photograph of Vivienne.
“She met him the night before.”
Conrad looked at it.
His entire expression changed.
“She told me she had never met Daniel.”
“Another lie.”
Conrad called Marcus.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Then his phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared.
Marcus was tied to a chair.
Under it was a message.
Bring Daniel Marlo’s ledger. Midnight. Pier 19.
Tessa read it.
“They think I have it.”
“You probably do.”
She shook her head.
“There were papers, but no ledger.”
Conrad studied the photograph of Daniel.
“Your father never trusted digital records completely. He believed paper survived things computers didn’t.”
Tessa remembered something.
The old photograph she had carried from the mansion.
She pulled it out.
Conrad stared at it.
“What?”
“The diner.”
“What about it?”
“My father took that photograph the day I got my first job.”
She ran a finger over its edge.
“It was always in a cheap wooden frame.”
“Where’s the frame?”
Tessa went still.
“In the mansion.”
Conrad was already moving.
They returned after dark.
The house felt different.
Not like Tessa’s home.
Like a crime scene.
The sofa was empty.
Vivienne was gone.
Tessa walked to the bedroom and opened the bottom drawer.
The frame was there.
Conrad broke the backing.
Nothing.
Tessa examined it.
Then she noticed one side was thicker.
She pulled.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a tiny brass key.
Not the same key from the safe-deposit box.
Attached was a tag.
617.
Conrad stared.
“Boston Central Storage.”
They arrived twenty minutes before closing.
Unit 617 contained one object.
A battered metal cash box.
Tessa used the key.
Inside was a handwritten ledger.
Page after page.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
At the bottom lay a cassette tape.
Tessa almost laughed.
“My father hated new technology.”
Conrad found an old recorder in the facility manager’s office.
Daniel’s voice filled the room.
“If you’re hearing this, I failed.”
Tessa stopped breathing.
“Victor knows I copied Meridian. I trusted his son Conrad because I believe the boy still has a conscience. If Conrad is alive, tell him I’m sorry. The betrayal came from inside my own team.”
Paper rustled on the recording.
“Her name is Evelyn Cross.”
Conrad froze.
Tessa whispered, “Vivienne’s mother.”
Daniel continued.
“Evelyn sold us out to Victor. Her daughter may know nothing. But if anything happens to me, the ledger proves everything.”
The tape clicked.
Silence.
Tessa wiped her cheek.
She had not realized she was crying.
Conrad stood motionless.
“My father killed yours.”
“Yes.”
“And yours?”
Conrad looked at the ledger.
“Victor died three years later.”
Tessa remembered the official story.
Heart attack.
Conrad’s expression hardened.
“It wasn’t a heart attack.”
Before she could ask, the storage lights went out.
A metallic crash sounded outside.
Conrad pulled Tessa behind him.
Footsteps approached.
Then a woman’s voice came through the darkness.
“Tessa?”
Vivienne.
“Please don’t shoot.”
Conrad switched on his phone light.
Vivienne stepped into view.
Her elegant dress was torn.
Blood marked her temple.
And behind her stood Marcus.
Alive.
Vivienne looked directly at Tessa.
“If you have Daniel’s ledger, we have about twenty minutes before Conrad’s uncle finds us.”
Conrad went completely still.
“My uncle?”
Vivienne nodded.
“Victor wasn’t the man who ordered Daniel Marlo’s death.”
May you like
She looked at Tessa.
“Sebastian Voss was.”
