Chapter 5 - What Emma Remembered
The box had been buried less than two feet beneath the ground.
It wasn't ancient.
It wasn't forgotten.
Someone had hidden it deliberately.
Detectives photographed it before moving anything.
I stared at my father's name.
ANTHONY MORETTI.
My father had never mentioned an iron box.
He had never mentioned tunnels.
He had never mentioned anything worth terrorizing a child over.
Emma stood beside Sophia.
Bruno remained between them and everyone else.
“What key?” I asked Emma again.
She touched her teddy bear.
“He wanted the key.”
“Did he say where it was?”
She nodded.
“Bear.”
Sophia looked down.
“What?”
Emma held up the teddy bear.
The same cream-colored bear she carried everywhere.
Sophia’s face changed.
“That belonged to Adrian’s father.”
I stared at her.
“What did you say?”
She swallowed.
“Your father gave it to Emma.”
Impossible.
“My father died before Emma was born.”
Sophia shook her head quickly.
“Not directly. He gave it to my mother.”
I felt the world tilt.
“You knew my father?”
“My mother did.”
We moved inside.
Sophia sat across from me.
Emma played on the rug beside Bruno.
“My mother was your father's housekeeper,” Sophia said.
I remembered.
Margaret Carter.
Quiet woman.
Worked for us when I was young.
“She left suddenly.”
“She was told to.”
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
“Why?”
Sophia looked toward Emma.
“Because she saw something.”
“What?”
“Men using the old kennel at night.”
My father had discovered financial fraud inside one of his companies.
Millions had been redirected through shell vendors.
He suspected someone close to him.
Before he could finish investigating, he became ill.
He gave Margaret documents and told her to leave.
“He told her that if anything happened to him, she should protect them.”
“What happened to the documents?”
“My mother hid them.”
“And the key?”
Sophia pointed toward the bear.
My chest tightened.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“She was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
“She never knew.”
Margaret died four years earlier.
Before her death, she gave Sophia the teddy bear.
“She told me never to throw it away.”
I looked at Emma.
The bear sat beside her.
Bruno’s head rested against her leg.
“May I?”
Emma hugged it.
“No.”
“Emma.”
“No.”
Sophia smiled despite everything.
“Ask nicely.”
I exhaled.
“Emma, may I please borrow your bear?”
She considered.
“Bruno watches.”
“Deal.”
We examined the bear.
Nothing obvious.
Then Sophia found a tiny repaired seam beneath the ribbon.
Inside was a brass key.
It opened the iron box.
Inside were ledgers.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And a letter addressed to me.
Adrian,
If you're reading this, I failed to finish what I started.
Trust evidence, not loyalty.
The person stealing from us understands our security because he helped build it.
My father had written that twelve years ago.
Daniel had only worked for me seven.
He couldn't be the original person.
There was someone else.
Someone Daniel was protecting.
Or working for.
The ledgers identified shell companies.
Payments.
Property transfers.
Then one name appeared repeatedly.
VICTOR HALE.
I knew it.
Victor had been my father’s business partner.
He had supposedly retired ten years ago.
I called the detective.
“Find Victor Hale.”
He went silent.
“Mr. Moretti…”
“What?”
“Victor Hale died six years ago.”
I stared at the ledger.
“Then somebody has been using his companies.”
We examined the flash drive.
Most files were encrypted.
One wasn't.
A video.
My father appeared.
Older than I remembered him.
Tired.
“Adrian,” he said into the camera, “if you're seeing this, understand one thing. The danger isn't outside our gates.”
The video glitched.
Then resumed.
“The person responsible is—”
Black screen.
Corrupted.
I nearly threw the laptop.
Bruno raised his head.
Emma frowned at me.
“No yelling.”
I closed my eyes.
“Sorry.”
The detective took the drive for recovery.
That evening, Sophia found me alone.
“You couldn't have known.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Maybe because it's true.”
“My father knew.”
“And he couldn't stop it.”
That hurt.
She sat beside me.
“Power doesn't make you able to see everything.”
“No. Sometimes it just makes people afraid to tell you what they see.”
Sophia said nothing.
We both looked toward Emma.
She was asleep on the sofa.
Bruno lay beside her.
His enormous head rested near her feet.
“He changed because of her,” I said.
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“She showed you who he already was.”
I looked at Bruno.
Maybe she was right.
The next morning, police found Keller dead?
No.
They found his motel abandoned.
A note remained.
I CAN'T DO THIS.
No body.
No proof of harm.
He had run again.
Then my phone rang.
Daniel.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“For whom?”
“Listen to me, Adrian.”
“You put a chain in Emma’s room.”
“No.”
“You paid Keller.”
“Yes.”
The admission stunned me.
“But not for the reason you think.”
“Explain.”
“I needed Bruno removed.”
“Why?”
“Because someone told me Emma would be hurt if I didn't.”
My grip tightened.
“Who?”
“I can't say over the phone.”
“Then come back.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
Silence.
Then Daniel whispered:
“You still don't understand. I wasn't the man Bruno was warning you about.”
My pulse slowed.
“Who was?”
A sound came through the phone.
A door.
Daniel breathed sharply.
“Adrian.”
“What?”
“He found me.”
The line went dead.
Thirty seconds later, a message arrived.
An address.
And four words.
COME ALONE OR HE DIES.
I stared at the screen.
Then Bruno stood beside me.
His ears lifted toward the front door.
Someone knocked.
Three times.
I opened it.
Nathan stood outside.
His face was pale.
“Boss.”
“What?”
He held up a tablet.
“The police recovered the rest of your father's video.”
I took it.
My father's frozen face filled the screen.
Nathan pressed play.
“The person responsible,” my father said, “is someone my son will probably trust with his life.”
The image sharpened.
May you like
Then my father spoke the name.
And I looked slowly up at Nathan.
