Chapter 4 - The Box My Grandmother Hid
Bonnie wanted to go alone.
Vincent refused to pretend that was reasonable.
They compromised in a way neither liked.
Bonnie would meet Ryan.
Vincent's people would remain nearby.
Ryan chose an unfinished waterfront property.
His dream project.
The building stood skeletal against the city skyline.
Bonnie entered the ground floor alone.
Ryan waited beneath temporary construction lights.
Her grandmother's metal case sat on a table.
"You came."
Bonnie stopped ten feet away.
"Give me the box."
Ryan looked exhausted.
His polished appearance was gone.
"Moretti nearby?"
"Does it matter?"
"It matters more than you understand."
Bonnie stared at him.
"Why did my grandmother know his name?"
Ryan laughed nervously.
"That's the question, isn't it?"
"Answer it."
Ryan placed his hand on the case.
"Your grandfather was an accountant."
"I know."
"For Moretti's father."
Bonnie froze.
Ryan continued.
"Not officially."
Vincent's father had allegedly controlled half the city's underground economy decades earlier.
Bonnie had heard the stories.
"Your grandfather kept records," Ryan said. "Transactions. Payoffs. Property transfers. Names."
"And my grandmother kept them?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"My father knew."
Bonnie remembered Ryan's father, Edward Wexler.
Dead four years.
A stern man who had never liked her.
"Your father knew my grandfather?"
Ryan smiled bitterly.
"That's why I met you."
The words hit harder than the divorce.
"What?"
"Our first meeting wasn't accidental."
Bonnie remembered the coffee shop.
Ryan bumping into her.
The spilled latte.
His apology.
The number he'd written on a napkin.
Manufactured.
All of it.
"You married me for that box?"
"At first, I dated you because my father wanted access."
Bonnie couldn't breathe.
"And later?"
Ryan looked away.
"I did love you."
"No."
"I did."
"You don't get to use that word."
Ryan's face tightened.
"My father believed the records could destroy powerful people."
"Including Moretti?"
"Especially Moretti."
Bonnie looked at the case.
"Then why does my grandmother's letter say the evidence belongs with him?"
Ryan's expression changed.
Because he didn't know.
Bonnie saw it.
"You've never opened the box."
"It's encrypted."
He tapped the lock.
"Your grandmother changed the mechanism."
"So you need me."
Ryan nodded.
Bonnie laughed.
"That's why the insurance policy changed."
Ryan stiffened.
"I didn't do that."
"Your signature authorized it."
"Bonnie, listen to me. I didn't increase that policy."
She studied him.
For the first time, Ryan looked sincerely frightened.
"Who did?"
"My father."
"Your father is dead."
Ryan stared at her.
"That's what I thought."
A sound echoed through the building.
Footsteps.
Ryan's face changed.
"Did you bring Moretti?"
"No."
"Then we need to leave."
"Why?"
Ryan grabbed the box.
"Because someone followed me."
Lights suddenly died.
Darkness.
Bonnie heard movement.
Then Vincent's voice.
"Bonnie."
She turned toward it.
A flashlight appeared.
Vincent reached her.
Ryan stepped backward.
"You're too late."
"For what?" Vincent asked.
Ryan held up the case.
"For the truth."
Then a second flashlight appeared behind Ryan.
A man's voice spoke from the darkness.
"Put down the box, son."
Ryan went completely still.
Bonnie stared past him.
The older man stepped into the light.
May you like
Ryan whispered one word.
"Dad?"
