Evan did not reply to Daniel.
He placed the phone on the desk.
Darla watched him carefully.
“You're not going alone.”
“No.”
“You were thinking about it.”
“I was considering it.”
“That is almost the same thing.”
Evan looked at her.
“You're right.”
He folded his father's note and placed it inside his jacket.
“Then what do we do?”
“We find the ledger.”
“Where?”
Evan looked around the office.
“My father believed information was safer when nobody knew where it was.”
Darla frowned.
“You think it's here?”
“I think someone wanted us to believe it was.”
He walked toward the wall behind the desk.
There were twelve framed photographs.
His father's early construction projects.
A groundbreaking ceremony.
A factory opening.
A hotel.
A portrait of the first executive team.
Evan removed the third photograph.
Behind it was nothing.
The fourth.
Nothing.
The fifth.
A small metal plate.
Darla stepped closer.
“What is that?”
Evan examined it.
A sequence of numbers had been engraved into the plate.
He recognized them immediately.
His father's birthday.
Then his mother's.
Then Evan's.
Three dates.
Beneath them was one final number.
4:17.
The time on the brass clock.
Evan looked at the clock.
He removed it from the wall.
Behind it was a narrow recess.
Inside sat a small leather-bound book.
Darla whispered, “The ledger.”
Evan pulled it out.
The cover was worn.
No title.
No initials.
He opened it.
The pages contained names, dates, account numbers, payments, meetings, and handwritten notes.
At first, Evan recognized none of the names.
Then he saw one.
Whitmore.
Darla stepped closer.
“What?”
Evan turned the book toward her.
Her family name appeared several times.
She stared at it.
“My father.”
“Was he involved?”
“I don't know.”
Evan continued reading.
The entries went back twenty-eight years.
Money had moved between companies that no longer existed.
Payments had been made through shell corporations.
Several transactions were connected to foreign accounts.
And one recurring notation appeared beside dozens of entries.
Protection.
Darla's face tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Evan turned another page.
Then stopped.
His father's signature appeared at the bottom.
Beneath it was the name of a man Evan had heard only once in his life.
Victor Hale.
Darla recognized it.
“You know him?”
“No.”
“I do.”
Evan looked up.
“How?”
“My father mentioned him.”
“Who is he?”
Darla hesitated.
“He was an adviser to several wealthy families.”
“That doesn't explain why his name is here.”
“He wasn't only an adviser.”
“What was he?”
Darla's voice dropped.
“A fixer.”
Evan closed the ledger.
“A fixer for what?”
“Things powerful people didn't want investigated.”
The room seemed colder.
Evan opened the ledger again.
The last entries were dated twelve years earlier.
The same year his father died.
One page contained a note written in darker ink.
If anything happens to me, the ledger must remain hidden.
Evan stared at the words.
Then he saw the final line.
The people who benefited from the old arrangement will eventually come for it.
Darla whispered, “Your father knew.”
“Yes.”
“And he hid it from you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Evan's expression hardened.
“Because he wanted me out of it.”
A noise came from the corridor.
Both turned.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Evan closed the ledger.
The footsteps stopped outside the office.
Darla whispered, “Someone followed us.”
Evan moved toward the door.
He motioned for her to stay behind him.
The handle turned.
The door opened.
Marcus stepped inside.
Evan's shoulders relaxed slightly.
“Marcus.”
“I tracked your vehicle.”
“How?”
“Your driver.”
Evan nodded.
“What happened to Daniel?”
“Still missing.”
Marcus noticed the ledger.
His face changed.
“You found it.”
Evan looked at him sharply.
“How did you know about it?”
Marcus hesitated.
“I've known about the existence of a ledger for years.”
“From whom?”
“Your father.”
Darla stepped forward.
“Why didn't you tell Evan?”
“Because his father asked me not to.”
Evan stared at him.
“My father trusted you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“Because I once worked for him.”
Evan's eyes narrowed.
“What did you do?”
“Security.”
“That's all?”
Marcus said nothing.
Evan understood.
“No.”
Marcus sighed.
“I protected your father from people who wanted him dead.”
Darla looked at Evan.
“Dead?”
Marcus nodded.
“He wasn't only afraid of financial consequences.”
Evan's voice became quiet.
“Who wanted him dead?”
Marcus looked toward the closed door.
“People who lost money when he tried to leave.”
“Who?”
“I don't know all of them.”
“You know enough.”
Marcus took a breath.
“One of them was Victor Hale.”
Evan looked down at the ledger.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Marcus didn't answer immediately.
Then his phone rang.
He checked the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A voice spoke.
Marcus's face went pale.
“What?”
He listened.
Then slowly lowered the phone.
“What happened?”
Marcus looked at Evan.
“They have Darla's grandson.”
Darla staggered backward.
“No.”
“They sent me a location.”
“Where?”
Marcus showed Evan the screen.
A warehouse.
The same warehouse district they had just left.
Evan's expression changed.
“They followed us.”
Marcus nodded.
“Or they were already waiting.”
Evan closed the ledger.
“We leave.”
Darla grabbed his arm.
“My grandson.”
“We're going.”
“You said we shouldn't follow their instructions.”
“I didn't say we wouldn't rescue him.”
Marcus looked at Evan.
“You understand what this means?”
“Yes.”
“If we go there, they get what they want.”
Evan looked at the ledger.
Then at Darla.
Then at Marcus.
“No.”
He placed the ledger inside his briefcase.
“They think they get what they want.”
Darla stared at him.
“What are you planning?”
Evan closed the briefcase.
“I'm going to give them a choice.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 7: The Warehouse Trap Was Waiting Exactly Where They Expected, but Evan Had Already Turned the Enemy’s Greatest Advantage Against Them
She Took His Seat Without Looking Twice, Certain Money and Influence Would Make Everyone Else Step Aside
Part 6 of 12
