Chapter 4 - The Ledger
Damian didn’t throw Vanessa out.
Not that night.
That terrified Elena more than if he had.
At seven the next morning, Vanessa came downstairs dressed perfectly for breakfast.
She poured coffee as though nothing had happened.
Damian sat across from her.
“You have twenty-four hours.”
“To do what?”
“Explain the foundation transfer.”
Vanessa stirred sugar into her cup.
“You should ask your board.”
“I’m asking you.”
“You’re emotional.”
Damian almost laughed.
Vanessa leaned back.
“That child has made you sentimental.”
“Her name is Mia.”
“I know her name.”
“You’ve never used it.”
Vanessa’s spoon stopped moving.
Damian stood.
“Twenty-four hours.”
After he left, Vanessa’s expression collapsed.
She went upstairs.
Elena was changing linens in the west hallway when Vanessa’s bedroom door slammed.
Minutes later, Vanessa came back out carrying a handbag.
She didn’t see Elena.
She headed downstairs.
Elena entered the bedroom to collect towels.
Then she noticed the nightstand drawer.
Open.
The ledger was gone.
Only a torn corner of paper remained.
Elena should have walked away.
Instead, she picked it up.
Three handwritten words were visible.
REYES - PHASE TWO.
Her pulse jumped.
She took a photo.
That afternoon she showed Damian.
His face tightened.
“There was a ledger?”
“I saw it twice.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because private notebooks aren’t my business.”
“This one might be.”
Damian called his security chief, Owen Price.
“Find the ledger.”
Owen shook his head.
“We searched her room this morning.”
“Nothing.”
Damian looked toward the windows.
“She took it.”
Elena remembered something.
“The greenhouse.”
Damian turned.
“What?”
“Yesterday, after breakfast.”
“I saw Ms. Hale crossing toward the old greenhouse.”
“She never goes there.”
They reached it ten minutes later.
The building smelled of soil and rain.
Owen searched cabinets.
Nothing.
Mia had followed Elena despite being told to stay near the door.
She pointed at a cracked ceramic pot.
“Pretty lady put a book there.”
Every adult turned.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Owen moved the pot.
Behind it was a plastic bag.
Inside was the ledger.
Damian opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Marco.
A private investigator.
Two Cross Foundation employees.
A board member.
Then one name made Damian stop.
Charles Cross.
His uncle.
The man who had spent fifteen years trying to force Damian out of the family company.
Damian flipped farther.
Near the back was a handwritten timeline.
ENGAGEMENT.
MARRIAGE.
BOARD VOTE.
CONTROL TRANSFER.
Elena whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Then they heard glass break behind them.
Owen spun around.
Smoke poured under the greenhouse door.
May you like
Someone had locked them inside.
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