Chapter 5 - THE KIDNAPPINGSilas disappeared from his hotel room.
No cameras.
No witnesses.
No struggle.
Only a note.
FOR THE GIRL WHO CARRIES THE ASHFORD NAME.
Raven read it.
His face became terrifyingly calm.
“She's the target.”
I looked at him.
“You mean me.”
“Yes.”
“What do they want?”
“The ledger.”
“I don't have it.”
“They believe you do.”
We discovered the truth that night.
My father had hidden the original ledger inside the one place nobody would search.
My childhood home.
The house had been sold years ago.
But Raven found the buyer.
An old woman.
She gave us a key.
“Your father told me that one day you would return.”
We opened the basement.
Behind a brick wall was a metal box.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
And a cassette tape.
Raven played it.
My father's voice filled the room.
“Sarah, if you're hearing this, I'm dead.”
I covered my mouth.
“I need you to know that I loved you.”
My tears fell.
“You were never abandoned. I hid you because Marcus was killed for trying to protect you.”
The recording continued.
“Victoria knows more than she will tell you.”
Raven looked at me.
“And Raven…”
My father's voice paused.
“Your family will try to convince you that they are protecting her.”
A long silence.
“They're actually protecting themselves.”
The tape ended.
Raven looked at the documents.
There was one final photograph.
Marcus.
Standing beside my mother.
And behind them—
Lucia Cavalcante.
Raven's aunt.
Still alive.
Raven stared.
“She should be dead.”
I looked at him.
“What now?”
His phone rang.
Lucia's voice came through.
“You have the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Bring it.”
“Where is Silas?”
A laugh.
“Alive.”
“If you touch him—”
“Bring Sarah.”
Raven's eyes met mine.
“No.”
Lucia smiled through the phone.
“Then Silas dies.”
We went.
Not because Raven trusted them.
Because he knew we had no choice.
The meeting place was an abandoned theater.
Silas was tied to a chair.
Lucia stood behind him.
She looked exactly like the woman in the photograph.
Elegant.
Beautiful.
Deadly.
She smiled at me.
“You look like your mother.”
I stared.
“You killed her.”
“She knew too much.”
Raven stepped forward.
“And now?”
Lucia looked at me.
“Now you know too much.”
She pointed the gun.
“Give me the ledger.”
Raven handed it over.
Lucia opened it.
Then laughed.
“Fake.”
Raven smiled.
“You thought I'd bring the real one?”
Lucia's expression changed.
Suddenly, men surrounded us.
But before they could fire—
The theater doors burst open.
Federal agents.
Police.
And behind them, Victoria.
Lucia stared at her.
“You betrayed me.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at Raven.
May you like
“I finally chose my son.”
Then the shooting began.
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