Chapter 2 - The Secret the Billionaire Was Hiding
Victor stared at the photograph for a long time.
Maria sat across from him in his office, hands clasped tightly in her lap.
“Who sent this?”
“I don't know.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Did anyone follow you?”
“Not that I saw.”
Victor picked up the photograph again.
It showed Maria's mother, Elena Lopez, standing outside a courthouse twelve years earlier.
Beside her was Victor's father.
Daniel Hart.
Victor had seen that photograph once before.
In a file his mother had tried to burn.
“How do you know my mother?” Maria asked.
“I don't.”
“That isn't true.”
“No,” he said quietly. “It isn't.”
He walked toward the window.
Maria watched him.
The skyline belonged to him.
The hotel belonged to him.
Half the buildings on the block carried his company's name.
Yet suddenly he looked like the least powerful person in the room.
“Daniel Hart died twelve years ago,” Victor said.
“I know.”
“My father was supposed to have been alone.”
“He wasn't.”
Victor turned.
“You're certain?”
“My mother kept an old box.”
“What was in it?”
“I never opened it.”
“Why not?”
“Because she told me never to.”
Victor smiled bitterly.
“Parents are very good at telling children not to ask questions.”
Maria stood.
“Tell me why my mother was with your father.”
“I can't.”
“Can't?”
“Not yet.”
She stared at him.
“That's convenient.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds like you're protecting yourself.”
“I am.”
Her expression hardened.
“And there it is.”
He sighed.
“Maria, there are things about my family that you don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“I don't know who sent this.”
“Then find out.”
He looked at her.
“Are you willing to hear something that may change the way you see your mother?”
Maria's throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“She may have worked for my father.”
“As an employee?”
“No.”
Victor hesitated.
“She may have helped him expose someone inside his company.”
Maria sat again.
“Who?”
“An executive named Richard Cole.”
“The man who runs your board?”
“He used to.”
Victor's voice hardened.
“My father believed Richard was stealing from the company.”
“How much?”
“Over eighty million.”
Maria stared.
Her mother had once told her they had known a wealthy family.
Nothing more.
“Did my mother know?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She was an accountant.”
Maria frowned.
“My mother was a waitress.”
“After.”
“What happened before?”
“She changed her identity.”
Maria's heart pounded.
“What?”
Victor placed a folder on his desk.
Inside was a photograph.
A younger woman.
Dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
Elena Lopez.
But beneath the image was another name.
Elena Marquez.
Maria stared.
“That isn't possible.”
“She disappeared twelve years ago.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at the file.
“Because my father's death was not an accident.”
The room went silent.
Maria whispered:
“Who killed him?”
“We never proved who.”
“What do you mean?”
“There were three people in the room that night.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
“Richard Cole.”
“And your mother.”
Maria's heart stopped.
“My mother witnessed your father's murder?”
“She may have.”
“May have?”
“She was the last person seen leaving.”
Maria felt sick.
“My mother isn't a killer.”
“I didn't say she was.”
“Then why bring this up?”
“Because someone wants you to believe she is.”
He handed Maria another sheet.
A recent surveillance photograph.
Her mother leaving a pharmacy.
Someone had circled her.
“She isn't dead,” Victor said.
Maria stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“She told me she had gone to another clinic.”
“She has been moving for years.”
“From whom?”
Victor didn't answer.
Instead, he said:
“Richard Cole has been trying to find her.”
Maria stared at the papers.
Then at him.
“Why?”
“Because she knows something.”
“What?”
“My father hid a financial account before he died.”
“And?”
“It contains enough money to destroy Richard.”
Maria's pulse quickened.
“How much?”
“Three hundred million dollars.”
She almost laughed.
“My mother knows where three hundred million dollars is?”
Victor nodded.
“And someone believes you know where she hid it.”
“But I don't.”
“I believe you.”
“Why?”
“Because you fell asleep in my bathtub.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“You'd be a terrible liar.”
Despite the fear, she laughed.
Victor's expression softened.
For a moment, the office felt less dangerous.
Then the lights flickered.
Victor moved immediately.
“Stay here.”
“What?”
He walked to the door and locked it.
“Why?”
“Because we're not alone.”
A faint metallic sound came from the hallway.
Then the fire alarm sounded.
Victor pulled Maria toward a hidden doorway behind the bookshelves.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving your life.”
The door opened into a narrow passage.
They stepped inside.
A second later, glass shattered in the office.
Maria gasped.
“Someone shot the window.”
Victor pulled her closer.
“Do not leave my side.”
She could hear his heartbeat.
For the first time, she wasn't thinking about his wealth.
Or his company.
Or the rumors about him.
She was thinking about the fact that he was standing between her and a bullet.
When the building security finally arrived, the shooter was gone.
One thing remained.
A note.
It had been taped to the office window.
Victor removed it.
Maria read the words.
Stop protecting her.
Victor looked at her.
“Who?”
May you like
He folded the paper.
“My father’s killer.”
