Chapter 7 - The Diary Beneath The Floorboards
They found Dora's apartment destroyed.
Drawers were pulled open.
Mattress sliced.
Books torn apart.
But nothing was missing.
That meant the intruder hadn't been stealing.
They had been searching.
Victor entered first.
His men checked every room.
Dora walked slowly through the wreckage.
Then she saw the old floorboard beneath her mother's bed.
She dropped to her knees.
"It's loose."
Victor crouched beside her.
"Don't touch it."
"I know what's under there."
He looked at her.
"What?"
"My mother used to say that if anything ever happened to her, I should look beneath the third board."
Victor's expression changed.
He pried it open.
Inside was a leather diary.
The first page contained one sentence.
Dora, if you are reading this, trust the man who asked permission before touching your hand.
Dora looked at Victor.
He looked back.
She smiled despite herself.
Her mother had known him before either of them realized it.
The diary revealed everything.
Elena and Amelia had discovered that Richard was laundering money through legitimate companies.
Victor's father planned to expose him.
Richard arranged the crash.
Elena found the evidence.
Amelia hid it.
Then both women were hunted.
Elena died.
Amelia escaped with Dora.
But eventually, Richard found her.
She knew she couldn't survive.
So she made a choice.
She hid the evidence inside Dora's necklace and planted the diary beneath the floor.
Victor read the final entry.
I could not protect my daughter forever. But I could give her a chance to find people who would.
Dora covered her mouth.
Tears streamed down her face.
Victor knelt beside her.
"You don't have to be strong right now."
"I've been strong my whole life."
"I know."
"I'm tired."
He reached for her hand.
Stopped.
"May I?"
Dora nodded.
Victor held her.
For the first time, Dora let herself cry against someone's chest.
Victor wrapped his arms around her.
No cameras.
No audience.
No performance.
Just two wounded people holding on.
Then Marcus entered.
"We decoded the memory card."
Victor looked up.
"What did we find?"
Marcus placed a laptop on the table.
A video appeared.
Elena's face.
Dora stared.
Her mother was alive in the recording.
"If you're watching this, Richard thinks he's already won."
Dora cried harder.
Elena continued.
"Victor, your father trusted the wrong people."
Victor leaned forward.
"There is a ledger."
"The ledger contains every payment."
"Every judge."
"Every politician."
"Every murder bought with money."
Elena looked directly into the camera.
"And the man who has been helping Richard is not who you think."
The video ended.
Dora whispered, "Who?"
Marcus looked grim.
"We have a name."
Victor said, "Say it."
Marcus did.
Dora's heart shattered.
The man was the person who had helped raise her after her mother died.
Her mother's closest friend.
The man she had called Uncle Daniel.
The same man who had signed her childhood school forms.
The same man who had paid her first rent deposit.
May you like
The same man Dora had trusted more than anyone.
He had been part of everything.
