Chapter 5 - The Ledger
Desmond moved toward the door.
“Sadi, stay behind me.”
“You're in a wheelchair.”
“I know.”
“Then don't try to be a hero.”
He almost laughed.
Even now, she was arguing.
The door shook again.
Marcus's voice came through.
“You don't understand what you've uncovered.”
Desmond shouted:
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you will kill me.”
Sadi found a flashlight.
The beam illuminated a narrow shelf.
“There's another exit.”
Desmond looked.
Behind the shelves was a second door.
They opened it.
It led into an old service corridor.
They escaped minutes before the main door was forced open.
By the time security arrived, Marcus was gone.
Desmond returned to the archive.
The ledger was missing.
Only one page remained.
Sadi picked it up.
A list of payments.
One recipient appeared at the bottom.
A. Gallagher.
Adrian.
Desmond stared.
“So he did it.”
Sadi shook her head.
“Maybe he received money.”
“For what?”
“That's what we need to find out.”
Desmond looked at her.
“You're remarkably calm.”
“I'm terrified.”
“You don't look it.”
“I've learned that panic doesn't solve anything.”
Desmond smiled faintly.
“Neither does stubbornness.”
“You seem to survive on it.”
For a moment, they simply looked at each other.
The tension changed.
It wasn't fear anymore.
It was something neither of them understood.
Desmond looked away first.
That night, Sadi helped him transfer from the wheelchair to the bed.
Her hand rested on his shoulder.
His eyes met hers.
“You should leave,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because whoever is behind this knows your name.”
“So?”
“So you could die.”
Sadi didn't move.
“I've spent six years believing my father abandoned me.”
Desmond looked at her.
“If there's a chance he was murdered because of your family, I'm not walking away.”
He swallowed.
“You don't owe me anything.”
“I know.”
She adjusted his blanket.
“But I owe my father the truth.”
The next morning, Desmond received a package.
No return address.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a note.
Your brother didn't betray you. He saved you.
Desmond plugged it into his computer.
A video appeared.
The footage showed the night of the bombing.
Desmond watched himself walking toward his car.
Then the camera angle changed.
A man approached the vehicle.
The face was clear.
Desmond stopped breathing.
It was not Adrian.
It was not Marcus.
It was someone Desmond had trusted for years.
Someone who had been standing beside his hospital bed after the explosion.
Someone who had told him every day that his brother was responsible.
Desmond whispered one name.
Sadi heard it.
“Who?”
May you like
He looked at her.
“My father.”
