Chapter 5 - Diana Took My Hand in the Dark, and We Found the Secret That Made Her Father Fear His Own BrotherThe Brooklyn library had been closed for thirteen years.
My father had loved the place.
I remembered going there as a child.
The smell of dust.
Old paper.
Radiators that never worked properly.
I had assumed those memories were ordinary.
They weren't.
The librarian let us into the basement after Diana showed her a photograph.
She looked at me.
“Your father said you might return.”
My heart stopped.
“He came here?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Ten years ago.”
“He knew he was going to die?”
The librarian looked away.
“He knew he was being followed.”
Diana tightened her grip on my hand.
“Where did he hide something?”
The librarian walked toward a shelf.
She removed an old history book.
Behind it was a steel box.
I opened it.
Inside:
A cassette recorder.
A handwritten letter.
And an envelope marked FOR OWEN AND DIANA.
Diana stared.
“For us?”
I nodded.
We opened it together.
My father's handwriting filled the page.
If you are reading this together, then the past has finally caught up with you.
I read aloud.
Do not trust Gabriel.
Do not trust the board.
Most importantly, do not trust the person who claims to love either of you while asking for control.
Diana looked at me.
“That's oddly specific.”
I continued.
The original charter is not the most important document.
We froze.
The most important document is the transfer agreement.
I looked at the cassette.
We played it.
My father's voice filled the basement.
“If Diana is alive, tell her this.”
Diana's breathing stopped.
“Your father loved you.”
Her eyes filled.
“He made terrible choices.”
“Some because he was afraid.”
“Some because he trusted the wrong people.”
“But he never signed away your future.”
The recording clicked.
Then he said:
“The transfer agreement was hidden inside the Vance family trust itself.”
Diana whispered,
“The trust.”
“Yes.”
“That means the original trust document contains it.”
I nodded.
“But the trust is locked.”
Diana looked at me.
“Only a Vance heir can access it.”
She smiled sadly.
“That's the problem.”
“What?”
“My uncle controls the physical trust.”
I stared.
“Then how do we access it?”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“My father's office.”
We drove back to Vance Industries.
The building was dark.
We entered through a private entrance.
Diana used her fingerprint.
The system rejected her.
She tried again.
Rejected.
I looked at her.
“Gabriel locked you out.”
She nodded.
“Then how are we here?”
She smiled.
“Because my father taught me the manual override.”
She opened a panel.
Inside were three keys.
She turned the middle one.
The door opened.
We entered Edward Vance's old office.
Nothing had changed.
Dust.
Leather.
Photographs.
Diana walked to the desk.
Her hands trembled.
“This is where he worked.”
She touched the chair.
I stood beside her.
“He was proud of you.”
“How do you know?”
“My father told me.”
She looked at me.
“What else did he say?”
“That you were the one person he would never betray.”
Her eyes filled.
She kissed me.
Not for cover.
Not for strategy.
Not because someone was watching.
Because she wanted to.
I kissed her back.
When we separated, she whispered,
“This is a terrible time.”
“Yes.”
“And yet…”
“Yes.”
We found the trust hidden inside a wall compartment.
Diana opened it.
Inside was the original charter.
The transfer agreement.
And one photograph.
Gabriel.
Liam.
And another person.
Diana looked at it.
“Who is that?”
I stared.
I recognized him.
My stomach dropped.
“That's my father.”
Silence.
Diana looked between us.
“They knew each other.”
“Yes.”
She turned the photograph over.
A date.
The week before my father died.
Then a final note.
One of them must die to keep the company alive.
Diana whispered,
“Which one?”
Before I could answer, the office door opened.
Liam stood there.
His face was pale.
“You found it.”
Diana raised the charter.
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
“Then it's already too late.”
“What happened?”
“Gabriel knows.”
“How?”
Liam looked at me.
“Because someone told him.”
Diana asked,
“Who?”
Liam pointed toward the doorway.
A woman stood there.
Vanessa Vance.
Gabriel's daughter.
Diana's cousin.
May you like
She smiled.
“I did.”
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