Chapter 4 - The File Hidden in His Father's Office
Lucas took me to an old office on the thirty-ninth floor.
It hadn't been used since his father's death.
Dust covered the shelves.
Boxes were stacked against walls.
The name Bennett had been engraved in brass above the door.
"This was his office."
Lucas looked uncomfortable.
"I haven't been inside in six years."
"Why now?"
"Because my father left records here."
"What kind?"
"Financial."
We searched for hours.
Nothing.
Then I noticed a painting.
A lake.
Beneath it, a brass plate.
I touched the plate.
It moved.
Lucas stared.
"Good catch."
Behind it was a small compartment.
Inside was a file.
Lucas opened it.
The first page contained a list of company payments.
The second contained names.
The third made him stop.
My mother's name.
I stepped forward.
"Why is she here?"
Lucas read the document.
"She wasn't."
"What do you mean?"
"This is a medical reimbursement file."
I frowned.
"She worked for Meridian?"
"No."
Then he found the attached note.
A charity program.
Meridian had quietly paid medical expenses for employees' families.
"Your mother received assistance."
I felt my throat tighten.
"She never told me."
Lucas looked at me.
"How much?"
"All of it."
"Then why were you evicted?"
"I don't know."
He kept reading.
The payments had stopped six months before her death.
I shook my head.
"That's when her condition got worse."
Lucas stared.
"Someone terminated the assistance."
"Who?"
The signature was Thomas Reed.
My heart sank.
"But why?"
Lucas turned the page.
There was another document.
A complaint from an employee named Daniel Parker.
My father.
I froze.
"My dad."
Lucas read it.
"Your father accused Thomas of falsifying company expenses."
I looked at him.
"That can't be."
"Your father worked here?"
"For six months. Years before I was born."
The complaint said Thomas had been diverting charitable funds.
A week later, my father was fired.
Three months later, he died in a workplace accident.
I sat down.
Lucas knelt beside me.
"I'm sorry."
I couldn't speak.
Then I noticed a final note.
"My daughter must never learn who did this."
I began crying.
Lucas reached for my hand.
I let him.
For a few seconds, neither of us moved.
Then the office door slammed.
We jumped.
A man ran down the corridor.
Lucas sprinted after him.
I followed.
We reached the stairwell.
The man disappeared below.
Lucas stopped.
"Security!"
Within minutes, the building was locked down.
The police arrived.
The man was gone.
But something had been left behind.
A black envelope.
Lucas opened it.
Inside was one page.
STOP DIGGING INTO THE PAST.
Beneath it was a photograph.
My mother.
Taken in hospice.
I nearly dropped the paper.
Someone had photographed her while she was dying.
Lucas's expression changed completely.
"This ends now."
"No."
I wiped my tears.
"It doesn't."
He looked at me.
"This is about my family too."
I stared.
"You knew my parents."
"No."
"My mother received money from your company."
"Through a program my father created."
"Your family helped us."
"My father did."
"Then someone inside destroyed it."
"Yes."
We looked at the evidence together.
Thomas.
Charitable funds.
My father.
My mother's medical care.
Lucas's near-death.
It couldn't be coincidence.
That night, Lucas hired a forensic accountant.
The investigation uncovered a hidden pattern.
For years, money had been diverted from the Bennett Foundation.
Millions of dollars.
Some went into private accounts.
Others went into political contributions.
But a portion went somewhere else.
A shell company.
Parker Strategic Holdings.
My last name.
I stared at the screen.
"What is this?"
Lucas's attorney shook his head.
"We're still tracing ownership."
"That company never belonged to my family."
Lucas looked at me.
"Someone used your name."
Then the accountant found the incorporation date.
It had been created two weeks after my father died.
Lucas leaned toward the screen.
"Who signed it?"
The attorney clicked.
Silence.
Then the document appeared.
Thomas Reed.
I felt sick.
He hadn't just destroyed my father's reputation.
He had used my family's name.
And Lucas realized something at the exact same moment I did.
May you like
Thomas hadn't targeted me because I saved Lucas.
He had targeted me because my family's name was already inside the secret.
