Chapter 5 - The Man I Trusted at Graves Tower Was the Same Man Who Had Been Hunting My Mother for Twelve YearsMarcus Vale arrived at the house twenty minutes later.
He looked worried.
"What happened?"
Nathaniel stared at him.
"Where were you?"
"At the office."
"Doing what?"
"Trying to find Claire."
Nathaniel smiled coldly.
"How convenient."
Marcus frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Nathaniel threw the photograph onto the table.
Marcus looked at it.
His face changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
Nathaniel saw it too.
"You recognize the location."
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
"Don't lie to me."
"I don't know where she is."
Nathaniel stepped closer.
"You know something."
Marcus's eyes moved toward me.
"Who's the girl?"
"Ruby."
Marcus stared.
"Ruby Bennett?"
Nathaniel's expression sharpened.
"You know her?"
Marcus took a step backward.
"I've heard the name."
"From whom?"
Marcus said nothing.
Nathaniel suddenly pulled out his gun.
I gasped.
"Mr. Graves!"
Marcus raised his hands.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
"Daniel is alive."
Nathaniel's eyes narrowed.
"I know."
Marcus looked stunned.
"How?"
"Because you just confirmed it."
Marcus swallowed.
Then he whispered:
"Daniel wants the girl."
Nathaniel's gun remained pointed at him.
"Why?"
"Because she's the key."
"To what?"
"The Graves inheritance."
Nathaniel stared.
"That's impossible."
Marcus shook his head.
"Your father left something behind."
Nathaniel's face hardened.
"My father died fifteen years ago."
"Not everything he owned was in the company."
Marcus paused.
"Some of it was hidden."
I looked between them.
"What was hidden?"
Marcus looked at me.
"A ledger."
Nathaniel went silent.
"The original ledger," Marcus continued.
"The one containing every payment, every politician, every judge, every secret account."
Nathaniel's eyes narrowed.
"Where is it?"
Marcus looked at me.
"Her mother knows."
That was when the house lights went out.
Gunshots exploded outside.
Nathaniel grabbed me.
"Down!"
The windows shattered.
Security returned fire.
I covered my ears.
Nathaniel pulled me into a hidden passage behind the bookshelf.
We moved through darkness.
"Where are we going?"
"Safe room."
"Where's Marcus?"
Nathaniel looked behind us.
Marcus was gone.
He had escaped.
Nathaniel stopped.
His expression was cold.
"He was working with them."
Then I noticed something in his hand.
The key from my mother's music box.
Nathaniel stared at it.
"Ruby."
"What?"
"Your mother didn't hide the ledger."
"Then where is it?"
May you like
He looked at the key.
"She hid the door."
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