Chapter 4 - The Safe in the Wall and the Name Genevieve Wasn’t Expecting
At six in the morning, Chicago was buried under gray clouds.
Nico drove himself.
Genevieve sat beside him.
They entered the abandoned warehouse through a side entrance.
Dust covered everything.
She led him upstairs.
Her father’s private office remained untouched.
Genevieve stood in the doorway.
The smell of old leather and cedar hit her.
She almost cried.
“My father used to sit here every Sunday.”
Nico stayed behind her.
“Take your time.”
She looked around.
Nothing.
Then she noticed the painting.
A sailing ship.
Her father's favorite.
She walked toward it.
Behind the frame was a combination lock.
Nico immediately stepped forward.
“Do you know the code?”
Genevieve whispered, “My birthday.”
The lock clicked.
A hidden section opened.
Inside was a black ledger.
A flash drive.
Three passports.
And a handwritten letter.
Genevieve opened it.
“My beloved Genevieve,
If you are reading this, I failed to keep danger away from you.”
Her hands shook.
The letter explained everything.
Thomas had discovered that the Whitmores were using contracts, shell companies, judges, police officials, and shipping routes to launder money.
He had intended to expose them.
But someone inside Hayes Logistics betrayed him.
And then came the sentence that shattered Genevieve.
“Do not trust the person who claims to have been investigating my death.”
Genevieve stopped.
She looked at Nico.
“What does that mean?”
Before he answered, a gunshot struck the office window.
Nico grabbed Genevieve and dragged her down.
“Stay low.”
More shots erupted.
Nico pulled his weapon and moved toward the door.
“Someone knew we were coming.”
Genevieve clutched the ledger.
“How?”
Nico looked at the passports.
“One of these belongs to someone close to you.”
He opened them.
Genevieve stared.
The first belonged to Thomas Hayes.
The second was under an alias.
The third made her blood freeze.
“Harper.”
Nico nodded.
Her best friend had another identity.
The warehouse doors exploded inward.
Men rushed inside.
Nico pushed Genevieve behind a reinforced steel partition.
“Do not come out.”
She heard gunfire.
Men shouted.
Glass shattered.
Then silence.
Nico returned minutes later with blood on his sleeve.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He looked relieved.
Genevieve held up the passport.
“Harper lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“She worked for them.”
“We need proof.”
She opened the ledger.
Inside were dates, payments, initials, and names.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Elias Vale.
Genevieve frowned.
“Who is Elias Vale?”
Nico’s face changed.
“You don't know?”
“No.”
“He was my father's closest friend.”
Genevieve stared.
Nico continued.
“He also helped build the original DeLuca organization.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared eight years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought he betrayed my father.”
Genevieve looked at the ledger again.
“He may have betrayed mine too.”
Nico took the flash drive.
“Let's go.”
They returned to the estate before noon.
Genevieve barely spoke.
The evidence was becoming too large to understand.
Her father had been killed.
Harper had lied.
The Whitmores were laundering money.
And a mysterious man named Elias Vale connected both families.
That evening, Nico called his longtime investigator, Mateo.
Mateo entered the library with a laptop.
“We have a problem.”
Nico looked up.
“What?”
“The flash drive is encrypted.”
“Can you break it?”
“Eventually.”
“How long?”
“Not long.”
Genevieve looked at Mateo.
“What's the problem?”
Mateo hesitated.
“Someone accessed your father's insurance account this morning.”
Genevieve stood.
“Who?”
“Your legal trustee.”
“My trustee?”
“Your uncle.”
Genevieve went still.
“My Uncle Daniel?”
Mateo nodded.
Nico stared at her.
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
Genevieve suddenly remembered something.
Her uncle had insisted she trust Preston.
He had approved the prenup.
He had encouraged the marriage.
And three days after her father died, Daniel had asked her to sign documents transferring temporary corporate authority to him.
She had refused.
Because Preston had said he could manage everything after the wedding.
Genevieve’s stomach turned.
“This is bigger than Preston.”
Nico looked at her.
“It always was.”
Then Mateo’s laptop made a sound.
The encrypted file had opened.
A video appeared.
Thomas Hayes was sitting behind his desk.
Alive.
He looked tired.
Afraid.
“Genevieve,” he said on the screen, “there is something you must know.”
Then he said the name she had never expected to hear.
“Your mother is alive.”
Genevieve stopped breathing.
May you like
Her mother had died when she was seven.
At least, that was what she had been told.
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