Chapter 5 - The Account That Shouldn't Exist
Liam Gallagher stepped through the hidden doorway.
Mateo moved between him and Harper.
“Don't.”
Liam raised both hands.
“I came back because the elevator cameras are compromised.”
“You have ten seconds.”
“Then you're going to waste nine of them being angry.”
“Eight.”
Harper stepped around Mateo.
“Did you write in the ledger?”
“No.”
“Did you create HQC Holdings?”
Liam froze.
That was answer enough.
Mateo's voice dropped.
“Explain.”
Liam looked exhausted.
“I created it to protect her.”
Harper laughed once.
“By forging my signature?”
“Yes.”
“That's your definition of protection?”
“I needed somewhere to move money without whoever was watching the original accounts realizing we'd found them.”
“Why my initials?”
“Because Simon was already building the case against you. I made his evidence messy.”
Harper stared.
“You deliberately added false evidence?”
“I added evidence that contradicted his timeline.”
She understood.
If Simon claimed Harper created the fraudulent accounts before disappearing, an account created after she vanished could undermine his story.
“You knew I was innocent.”
“From the beginning.”
“Then why didn't you tell Mateo?”
Liam looked at him.
“Because I didn't know who Mateo trusted.”
The words landed like an insult.
Mateo's face hardened.
“You thought I was involved?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“My father.”
Silence.
Liam walked toward the desk.
“When Patrick died, I inherited the Gallagher Family Trust. I never understood why it received quarterly deposits. My father told me they were consulting royalties.”
“From my company,” Mateo said.
“Yes.”
“And you never questioned it?”
“I was twenty-four when he died. I was trying to bury my father, not audit him.”
Harper could understand that.
Liam continued.
“Years later, I found letters.”
“From Gabriel?” Evelyn asked.
Liam looked at her.
“Yes.”
Mateo's expression changed.
“What letters?”
“Gabriel believed Patrick was helping someone hide money.”
“Who?”
“He never named them.”
“Convenient.”
“I thought so too.”
Liam reached into his jacket.
Mateo stiffened.
Liam slowly removed an envelope.
Old.
Yellowed.
He placed it on the desk.
Mateo opened it.
Gabriel's handwriting filled the page.
Harper watched Mateo read.
His anger disappeared.
“What does it say?” she asked.
Mateo handed it to her.
Patrick,
If anything happens to me, the payments must continue until the child is safe. No one can know why. Especially Mateo.
Harper read it twice.
“The child?”
Liam nodded.
“My father wasn't being paid for silence.”
Evelyn understood first.
“He was protecting someone.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Harper looked at the ledger.
G-17.
Not Gabriel.
Not Gallagher.
A child.
Seventeen.
She searched dates.
Twelve years ago.
A child who would now be—
“Seventeen,” Harper whispered.
Mateo looked at her.
“The child is seventeen now.”
Evelyn's face changed.
“G-17.”
Harper nodded.
“Guardian. Seventeen.”
Liam pulled out another document.
A birth certificate.
The name had been blacked out.
Mother unknown.
Father—
Gabriel Falcone.
Mateo sat down.
“My brother had a child?”
Liam nodded.
“A daughter.”
Mateo stared at the paper.
“Where is she?”
“That is the problem.”
Liam looked at Harper.
“Someone has been trying to find her for twelve years.”
Harper's hand moved to her own belly.
Suddenly the strange account made sense.
Money wasn't being stolen.
Money was being moved to protect a child.
Simon had discovered the payments.
He had tried to redirect them.
Harper had noticed.
Then someone framed her.
“But why?” Harper asked. “Why frame me over money that wasn't theft?”
“Because you were close to finding the beneficiary.”
Evelyn looked at Liam.
“And Simon?”
“Simon worked for the person searching for Gabriel's daughter.”
Mateo stood.
“Name.”
“I don't have it.”
“Then what do you have?”
Liam looked toward Harper.
“A warning.”
Harper's pulse accelerated.
“For me?”
“For your baby.”
Mateo moved instantly.
“What?”
“The person behind this believes Gabriel's daughter has a legal claim against part of the Falcone estate.”
Harper frowned.
“What does that have to do with my daughter?”
“Succession.”
Mateo understood.
His expression went cold.
Liam continued.
“Until today, Mateo had no acknowledged children.”
Harper's hand tightened across her belly.
“Now he does.”
“And that changes inheritance rights.”
Mateo stepped closer to Liam.
“No one is touching either child.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Because someone tracked Harper while you knew she was pregnant.”
Liam looked guilty.
“I knew where she was twice.”
Harper's breath caught.
“The photograph?”
“I didn't take it.”
“But you knew?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I had alerts on the forged identity Simon created for you.”
Harper stared.
“Simon created my alias?”
“The name you thought you invented had already been placed in a database.”
Her skin prickled.
“That is impossible.”
“You chose Anna Reed.”
“Yes.”
Liam nodded.
“Simon had created an Anna Reed identity six months before you disappeared.”
Harper felt sick.
She had chosen the name because her mother loved Anne of Green Gables and her father's middle name was Reed.
Only someone who knew her personal history could predict it.
Simon had.
Or someone had told him.
Mateo looked at her.
“What?”
“My employee file wouldn't contain that.”
“Who knew?”
“Evelyn.”
Evelyn recoiled.
“I never told Simon.”
“Who else?”
Harper thought.
Her mother was dead.
Her father had died when she was nine.
There was one other person.
Someone who had known her family.
Someone who had recommended her for the job at Falcone Tower.
Harper looked at Mateo.
“Your father.”
Mateo went still.
“My father hired me.”
“I know.”
“No. Personally.”
Evelyn whispered, “Harper…”
Harper turned.
Evelyn looked terrified.
“What?”
“Your father didn't die when you were nine.”
Harper stared at her.
The room disappeared.
“What did you say?”
Evelyn looked toward Mateo.
Then Liam.
Finally back at Harper.
“The man you were told was your father died when you were nine.”
Harper could barely breathe.
“Those are the same thing.”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“They aren't.”
She reached for the old birth certificate.
The one belonging to Gabriel's hidden daughter.
Her fingers rested on the blacked-out name.
“Harper, there's a reason Mateo's father personally brought you into this company.”
She began peeling away the old black strip covering the child's name.
The first letter appeared.
H.
Then A.
Then R.
Harper stepped backward.
“No.”
Evelyn removed the strip completely.
May you like
The name underneath was visible.
HARPER QUINN.
