Chapter 3 - The Man Who Hired Her
Lily went home under armed protection.
She hated every second of it.
The apartment she shared with her mother had never looked dangerous before.
Now every dark window felt exposed.
Her mother was sleeping when she arrived.
Lily stood over the hospital bed in the living room and watched her breathe.
Her mother, Claire, had once been unstoppable.
Now illness had reduced her world to medication bottles, doctor's appointments, and short walks between the bedroom and the kitchen.
Lily pulled a blanket over her shoulders.
When Claire opened her eyes, she smiled.
"You look awful."
Lily laughed despite herself.
"Thank you."
"Bad night?"
"Very."
Claire studied her.
"What happened?"
Lily hesitated.
She couldn't tell her mother that she had awakened in Tristan Cain's bed.
She couldn't tell her she had seen a sniper's laser.
She couldn't tell her someone knew her father's name.
So she said only:
"I think my new job is stranger than I thought."
Claire stared at her.
"Quit."
The answer came too quickly.
Lily noticed.
"Why?"
"Because."
"Mom."
"Because I said so."
Lily sat.
"That's not enough."
Claire looked away.
Something in the movement made Lily remember Tristan's question.
Did you see the body?
No.
She took a breath.
"Mom."
"What?"
"Was Dad really killed in a car accident?"
Claire closed her eyes.
The silence was answer enough.
Lily whispered, "You lied to me."
"I protected you."
"From what?"
Claire began to cry.
Lily's heart broke.
"Tell me."
"Your father wasn't a bad man."
"I didn't say he was."
"He found something."
Lily stared at her.
"What?"
"Money."
"Thirty-eight million?"
Claire looked shocked.
"Who told you that?"
"Tristan Cain."
At the name, Claire became pale.
"You met him?"
"Yes."
"You need to leave that company."
"Why?"
"Because people around that family disappear."
Lily stood.
"Where did Dad go?"
"I don't know."
"Mom."
"I don't know."
"Did he leave us?"
Claire looked down.
"He wanted to come back."
"When?"
"The night before he disappeared."
Lily stopped.
"What?"
"He called me."
"From where?"
"He said he had proof."
"Proof of what?"
"That someone inside Cain Holdings was selling company assets through criminal accounts."
Lily's heart hammered.
"Who?"
Claire shook her head.
"He never said."
"What else?"
"He told me something strange."
"What?"
"He said, 'If anyone ever asks about the blue ledger, tell them it burned.'"
Lily stared.
"The blue ledger?"
Claire nodded.
"I didn't know what he meant."
Lily sat slowly.
By the next morning, she knew she had to return to work.
Not because she trusted Adrian.
Because she needed answers.
Tristan had told her not to.
She went anyway.
When she entered Cain Holdings, conversations stopped.
People stared.
News had not reported the shooting.
But rumors moved faster than television.
A young secretary had ended up in Tristan Cain's private suite.
Some said she was his new mistress.
Some said she'd stolen something.
Others said she'd been planted by a rival.
Lily walked to Adrian Cross's office.
He was waiting.
He looked exactly as he always had.
Gray suit.
Perfect tie.
Professional smile.
"Lily."
She stopped.
"Mr. Cross."
"I heard you had a difficult night."
"Yes."
"I'm sorry."
She watched him.
"How did you hear?"
"Tristan called."
That was a lie.
She knew because Tristan had never mentioned calling him.
Adrian walked around his desk.
"I should never have encouraged you to drink."
"You did."
"I was trying to help you relax."
"You gave me four glasses."
He smiled faintly.
"I thought they were harmless."
Lily noticed a small scratch on his wrist.
The same kind of black residue she had seen around the hotel key reader.
Her stomach tightened.
Adrian held out a folder.
"Your workload can be lighter this week."
"Why?"
"After what happened."
"I don't want lighter work."
He studied her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
A pause.
Then he said, "There is something you should know."
"What?"
"The hotel room you entered wasn't Tristan's original room."
"I know."
"No."
He came closer.
"The room was changed."
Lily felt cold.
"By whom?"
"Me."
She froze.
Adrian's face stayed calm.
"I changed your room because you were intoxicated."
"Why?"
"You were going to be harassed in the lobby."
"Why didn't you tell Tristan?"
"I tried."
"You're lying."
He smiled.
"Careful, Lily."
It was the first time he had called her by her first name in that tone.
"You don't know what world you work in."
She left his office.
By noon, Tristan was waiting in the underground parking garage.
He stood beside a black sedan.
"You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you."
He looked at her.
"I found something."
She handed him a copy of her father's old death certificate.
"Look at the date."
He did.
"September 17."
"What's wrong with it?"
"My father disappeared on September 18."
Tristan's eyes lifted.
"One day apart."
"He couldn't have been declared dead before he disappeared."
"He wasn't."
Tristan turned the paper over.
A handwritten number had been added to the back.
"Where did this come from?"
"My mother's files."
Tristan memorized the number.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"Where?"
Pause.
"Don't touch anything."
He ended the call.
"What?"
"We found the blue ledger."
"Where?"
"In my father's old house."
They drove there together.
The house had been abandoned for years.
Dust covered everything.
A security team searched the basement.
Behind a false wall, they found a metal box.
Inside was a blue ledger.
Lily's heart hammered.
Tristan opened it.
The first pages contained ordinary accounting entries.
Then the names began.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police officers.
Businessmen.
And finally one name written on a page by itself.
ADRIAN CROSS.
Under it were three words.
HE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS.
Lily whispered:
"Who is she?"
Tristan turned the page.
A photograph fell out.
It showed Lily's father.
Standing beside a woman.
Lily knew that woman.
She had seen her once in the hospital.
A woman she had assumed was a social worker.
It was actually the chief financial officer of a company controlled by Tristan's father.
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And on the back of the photograph, someone had written:
SHE RAISED LILY'S FATHER.
