Chapter 3 - The Blood in the Ledger
Cole sat at my small kitchen table, the ledger spread out before him.
Evelyn was sitting on the sofa, holding my father’s hand.
They were two relics of a lost age, finally reunited.
I made tea, my hands still shaking as I set the cups down.
"This ledger," Cole said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"It’s not just a record of business."
"It’s a record of the betrayal."
He turned the pages, showing me the columns of numbers and names.
"My mother wasn't just the wife of a boss," he explained.
"She was the one who managed the legitimate side of the holdings."
"She found out that the Whitmores were using our ships to move something dark."
"Not just drugs. Human trafficking."
I felt a chill run down my spine.
Sloane’s family. The "prestigious" Whitmores.
"She was going to go to the authorities," Cole continued.
"She had the proof. And she gave it to Arthur for safekeeping."
"She knew they were coming for her."
My father spoke up from the sofa.
"She told me to take Lily and run if anything happened."
"She said Lily was the only witness who could prove the Whitmores were in the house."
"You were three years old, Lily. You were hiding in the toy chest."
I looked at my father, memories I had suppressed for eighteen years bubbling up.
I remembered the smell of smoke.
I remembered a woman’s voice telling me to stay quiet.
I remembered a man with a silver ring on his pinky finger lighting a match.
"The man with the ring," I whispered.
Everyone looked at me.
"I remember a man with a silver ring. It had a bird on it."
Cole stood up so fast his chair fell over.
"A falcon," he said.
"The Whitmore family crest is a falcon."
The room felt like it was shrinking.
The secret wasn't just about a fire anymore.
It was about a war that had been brewing for nearly two decades.
"They thought the proof was destroyed in the fire," Evelyn said.
"But Arthur saved it. And he saved the girl who saw the face of the killer."
Cole looked at me, and I saw a flash of something I hadn't seen before.
It wasn't just protectiveness. It was guilt.
"You've been living in poverty, working as a maid, because of my family," he said.
"I've been hiding you, Lily," my father corrected him.
"If she had been a Mercer, they would have found her."
"But nobody looks at the help. Nobody notices the girl with the mop."
"It was the perfect disguise. Until tonight."
Cole walked over to me and took my hands in his.
His touch was firm, grounding me.
"You’re not going back to that apartment," he said.
"And you’re never wearing that uniform again."
"The Whitmores know you’re alive now."
"And they know you have the key."
"I am going to finish what my mother started."
"But first, I am going to make sure they regret ever touching you."
Suddenly, the window in the living room shattered.
A red dot danced across Cole's chest.
May you like
"Get down!" he roared.
***
