Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Had Been Lying to Me
Gabriel's men searched the building.
No one found my mother.
My first instinct was panic.
My second was anger.
My third was to blame Gabriel.
“You said this hotel was secure.”
“It was.”
“My mother disappeared from inside it.”
“I know.”
“You were standing right there.”
“I know.”
“You promised she'd be safe.”
He looked at me.
“I did.”
“And?”
“And I failed.”
I didn't expect that.
No excuses.
No threats.
Just a man admitting failure.
He immediately ordered every city exit monitored.
Then he turned to me.
“Your mother left willingly.”
“How do you know?”
“Her shoes were gone.”
I stared.
“So she wasn't dragged?”
“No.”
“She went with them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gabriel looked at the blue book.
“Because she knows something we don't.”
We found her note three hours later.
It was hidden inside the children's book I had brought from home.
Clara,
I lied because I wanted you alive.
Do not trust Ethan.
But don't trust Gabriel blindly either.
Ask him what happened fourteen years ago.
I looked at Gabriel.
“What happened fourteen years ago?”
He said nothing.
That silence frightened me.
Finally:
“My father died.”
“I know.”
“Your father was blamed.”
“For what?”
“Money.”
I stared.
Gabriel admitted that after his father's death, Daniel had been accused of stealing millions.
The accusation destroyed his reputation.
Daniel died believing everyone would blame him.
But Gabriel had later discovered the truth.
Someone had forged Daniel's signature.
Someone who had access to his private records.
Someone who knew the family business from the inside.
My mother.
“No.”
“She had access.”
“You're accusing my mother?”
“I am telling you the evidence.”
I shook my head.
“My mother would never.”
“People do things for their children.”
The sentence hit me.
Because I knew it was true.
Then came the call.
My mother.
Alive.
Her voice trembled.
“Clara, listen.”
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Mom!”
“There's no time.”
“Who took you?”
“Nobody.”
“Then come home.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because I agreed to help them.”
My heart broke.
“What?”
“I helped hide your father's records.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because they threatened you.”
“Who?”
“The Black Ledger.”
My mother explained that after Daniel died, she was given a choice.
Give them the blue book.
Or watch her daughter disappear.
She never gave them the book.
Instead, she gave them false records.
For twenty-four years, she had been misleading the network.
Gabriel's father knew.
That's why he protected her.
Then he died.
The protection disappeared.
And the network came back.
“I need you to forgive me.”
I cried.
“I don't know if I can.”
“I understand.”
The line disconnected.
Gabriel stood silent.
Then he said:
“She bought you twenty-four years.”
I looked at him.
“You would do the same.”
He looked at Eli's picture on my phone.
“Yes.”
That evening, Gabriel found the location.
An abandoned printing warehouse.
We went there.
It was empty.
Except for a table.
On the table was a note.
THE BOOK WAS NEVER THE KEY.
I felt sick.
Then I noticed the handwriting.
My father.
Beneath the note was an address.
My old elementary school.
Gabriel understood.
“The key is a memory.”
We went.
My old classroom had been renovated decades earlier.
One wall remained.
My father had once repaired books for the school library.
I remembered one thing.
A hidden brick.
I touched it.
It moved.
Behind it was a metal box.
Inside was a cassette tape.
Gabriel found an old player.
The recording began.
Daniel's voice.
“If Clara ever hears this, then the network has failed to erase everything.”
I began to cry.
He continued.
“The person who controls the Black Ledger isn't a Hart.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“It is someone who was once protected by one.”
The recording ended.
Then another voice spoke.
Female.
My mother's.
May you like
She said one sentence.
“I know who it is.”
