Chapter 5 - The Boss Who Refused to Trade Me for the Ledger
Martin raised his weapon.
Adriano stepped between him and Clara.
"Let her go."
Martin laughed.
"You don't understand the game."
"I understand it perfectly."
"No. You still think this is about the ledger."
Adriano's eyes narrowed.
"What is it about?"
Martin held up the book.
"Leverage."
He looked at Clara.
"Your father knew the only thing worth hiding was not the money."
"It was you."
Clara's mother cried.
"Don't listen to him."
Martin smiled.
"Your daughter is the beneficiary."
"Of what?"
"The Bellflower trust."
He looked at Adriano.
"And Adriano Moretti is the trustee."
Clara turned.
"What?"
Adriano said nothing.
Martin laughed.
"You didn't tell her?"
Clara looked at him.
"Tell me."
"I was waiting for the right time."
"There is never a right time with you."
He nodded.
"That's true."
Martin moved closer.
"When Robert Bennett disappeared, he placed the trust under Jonathan Moretti."
"Jonathan died."
"So it passed to Adrian."
Clara stared.
"You controlled my inheritance."
"To protect it."
"From whom?"
"Your father's enemies."
Martin interrupted.
"From everyone."
He pointed at the ledger.
"Because the trust contains proof that could destroy all of us."
Adriano looked at him.
"You don't have the whole ledger."
Martin smiled.
"I have enough."
The lights suddenly went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Adriano grabbed Clara.
They ducked behind crates.
Her mother screamed.
Federal agents returned fire.
Someone pulled Martin away.
He disappeared through a side door.
Clara followed instinctively.
Adriano caught her.
"No."
"My mother!"
"She's with the agents."
"Martin has the ledger."
"Let him run."
"What?"
"He doesn't have the final pages."
Clara stared.
"You knew?"
"Your father split the ledger into three parts."
"Where are the others?"
"One is in the Bellflower trust."
"One?"
"The last one."
Adriano looked at her.
"Is with you."
Clara's breath caught.
"Where?"
"Your mother's necklace."
Her hand flew to her throat.
The small silver pendant.
She removed it.
The back opened.
Inside was a tiny folded strip of paper.
A code.
Clara stared.
"My mother carried this for twenty years."
Adriano nodded.
"Because Robert trusted her."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"Because she thought you would be safer."
Clara closed her eyes.
The words were beginning to mean something different.
Safety was never simple.
Sometimes it was silence.
Sometimes sacrifice.
Sometimes lies.
And sometimes love.
She turned toward Adriano.
"Do you love me?"
He froze.
The question seemed to catch him off guard.
"What?"
"You've protected me."
"Yes."
"You've followed me."
"Yes."
"You've risked your life."
"Yes."
"Do you love me?"
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said,
"I have tried very hard not to."
Her heart stopped.
"Why?"
"Because you're the first person I've ever wanted who wasn't part of a deal."
She swallowed.
"And now?"
"Now it's too late."
He touched her cheek.
"I love you."
Claire closed her eyes.
Then Martin's voice came through the darkness.
"How touching."
He appeared at the far end of the warehouse.
The ledger was in one hand.
His weapon in the other.
"Now give me the key."
Claire stepped forward.
"No."
Martin smiled.
"Then your mother dies."
Claire's mother was dragged into view.
Adriano's face became ice.
"Martin."
"You should have listened."
Adriano stepped forward.
"You think you have leverage."
"I do."
"No."
His voice was calm.
"You have a hostage."
Martin smiled.
"Same thing."
Adriano shook his head.
"You made one mistake."
"What?"
"You assumed Claire would be afraid."
Claire looked at Martin.
She wasn't.
She was furious.
She removed the paper from her mother's necklace.
Then tore it in half.
Martin's face changed.
"No!"
She smiled.
"You should have asked me what it said."
"It is the key."
"No."
She held up both pieces.
"It's a decoy."
Adriano stared.
Then he smiled.
Martin finally understood.
The last piece had never been in the necklace.
It had been hidden somewhere else.
Inside the original photograph of Robert Bennett.
Claire knew where it was.
She had seen the frame at her mother's apartment.
She whispered,
"Home."
Martin lunged.
Adriano moved faster.
The warehouse erupted into chaos.
When the lights returned, Martin was on the floor.
Federal agents surrounded him.
The ledger was secured.
Claire's mother was free.
May you like
But Landon Price had escaped.
And he had taken the real final key.
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