Chapter 2 - The Ledger That Never Existed
Roman moved before Harper understood what had happened.
One arm wrapped around her waist.
He pulled her behind the marble staircase as a second sound exploded through the darkness.
Guests screamed.
Glass shattered.
"Stay down."
"I'm not—"
"Harper."
Something in his voice stopped her.
Emergency lights flickered on.
The ballroom was chaos.
People rushed toward exits. Security guards shouted. Tables had overturned.
Roman's men appeared almost instantly.
"Boss."
"Lock the service exits."
Harper stared at him.
"Boss?"
Roman ignored that.
"Find Hayes."
Connor.
Harper looked across the ballroom.
Gone.
Paige too.
Sarah came running toward them.
"I'm okay," she said before Harper could ask. "What happened?"
Roman's security chief approached.
"Shot went into the ceiling. No injuries."
"A warning," Roman said.
"For whom?" Harper asked.
Roman looked at her.
"You."
Harper laughed once.
It contained no humor.
"Fantastic."
Roman took the photograph from her.
D.C.M.
"Do you recognize it?" she asked.
"Delaney Consolidated Maritime."
"I've never heard of it."
"You weren't supposed to."
Harper remembered Calder Maritime.
The invoices.
Millions routed through shell companies.
A payment pattern she'd flagged.
Daniel Croft had told her it was outside the litigation scope.
Three days later, Calder settled.
"Tell me about the lawyer."
Roman's silence answered first.
"Her name was Evelyn Shaw."
"What happened?"
"She disappeared."
Harper's stomach tightened.
"When?"
"Two years ago."
"Was she investigating D.C.M.?"
"Yes."
"And now someone thinks I have her ledger?"
Roman looked toward the ballroom.
"Not thinks."
Harper followed his gaze.
Daniel Croft stood near the doors.
Watching them.
Her mentor.
The man who had recruited her.
Daniel saw the photograph in Roman's hand.
Then turned and walked away.
Harper started after him.
Roman stopped her.
"Not here."
"That's my boss."
"Exactly."
Roman brought Harper and Sarah through a private hotel corridor into an executive conference room.
His security team swept it first.
Harper hated how quickly that began to feel reasonable.
"Start talking," she said.
Roman closed the door.
"D.C.M. was created eleven years ago. On paper, it imports industrial equipment. In reality, it moves money."
"For whom?"
"Politicians. Contractors. Corporate executives."
"And criminals?"
Roman looked at her.
"Yes."
"Including you?"
"No."
She searched his face.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No. I expect you to investigate it yourself."
That answer bothered her because it was exactly what she would have said.
Roman continued.
"Three years ago, D.C.M. began using Falco terminals without authorization. Someone inside my company was helping them."
"So you investigated."
"I did."
"And Evelyn Shaw?"
"She represented one of the shell companies. She discovered what they were doing."
"What happened to her?"
"She called me."
Roman paused.
"She said she'd found proof. We arranged to meet."
"She never came."
"No."
Harper folded her arms.
"And the ledger?"
"Missing."
"Why would someone think I have it?"
Roman's eyes shifted toward the photograph.
"Because Evelyn worked on Calder Maritime before you."
Harper went cold.
She had inherited that file after a previous attorney supposedly resigned.
Daniel had never told her the attorney's name.
"You're saying Evelyn was at my firm?"
"Yes."
Harper's phone buzzed.
Connor.
CALL ME.
She ignored it.
Another message.
THIS ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK.
Harper showed Roman.
"He's scared," Roman said.
"Good."
"Scared people are unpredictable."
"So are women whose apartments have been searched."
Sarah quietly said, "Harper, maybe listen to the terrifying billionaire for five minutes."
Roman looked at her.
"Logistics magnate."
Sarah blinked.
"That's the part you objected to?"
For the first time that night, Harper laughed.
It lasted one second.
Then Connor called.
Harper answered.
"What?"
"Where are you?"
"Why?"
"Harper, listen to me. You need to leave Falco."
Roman could hear every word.
Harper watched him.
"Interesting advice."
"You don't understand who he is."
"And you do?"
Silence.
Harper's pulse quickened.
"Connor."
"I made mistakes."
"That's an impressive understatement."
"Calder was different."
There it was.
Harper sat straighter.
"What do you know about Calder?"
Connor breathed into the phone.
"Meet me."
"Tell me now."
"I can't."
"Then we're done."
"You don't understand. Paige wasn't supposed to bring you into this."
Harper frowned.
"What does Paige have to do with it?"
Connor stopped.
"Connor?"
Someone spoke in the background.
Connor whispered, "Oh, God."
The call disconnected.
Harper immediately called back.
Nothing.
Roman was already moving.
"Trace it."
His security chief nodded.
Thirty seconds later, he returned.
"Parking garage."
They went downstairs.
Connor's car sat near the exit.
Driver's door open.
Engine running.
No Connor.
No Paige.
Harper approached.
Roman caught her elbow.
"Wait."
On the driver's seat was Connor's phone.
Its screen was cracked.
Beside it lay a cream-colored envelope.
Harper recognized the handwriting.
Her own.
She opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of a document she had drafted during the Calder case.
Someone had highlighted one invoice number.
DCM-417.
Sarah whispered, "What is that?"
Harper remembered.
"An invoice I couldn't reconcile."
Roman stared at the number.
"Four-seventeen."
"What?"
Roman pulled out his phone.
He showed Harper an old photograph.
Evelyn Shaw stood beside a storage facility.
Behind her:
UNIT 417.
Harper looked back at Connor's abandoned car.
"Where is that facility?"
Roman's security chief answered.
"South Side."
They arrived forty minutes later.
Unit 417 had been locked for years.
Roman's man cut the padlock.
Harper stepped inside.
Boxes.
Furniture.
Legal files.
A desk.
She approached it.
A framed photograph rested facedown.
Harper lifted it.
Evelyn Shaw stood beside Daniel Croft.
And Connor.
The photograph was dated five years earlier.
Before Harper had met Connor.
"He knew her," Harper whispered.
Roman opened a drawer.
Empty.
Except for a small key taped underneath.
Harper took it.
A tag hung from the ring.
HALSTON HOTEL.
ROOM 1108.
Sarah stared at her.
"The gala hotel?"
Roman nodded.
"Someone wanted us to find this."
They returned to the Halston shortly before midnight.
Police had cleared most guests.
Room 1108 was supposedly vacant.
Roman inserted the key.
It worked.
Harper pushed open the door.
A lamp was burning.
On the table sat a black leather ledger.
Harper approached slowly.
"Don't touch it," Roman said.
Too late.
The ledger opened by itself when her fingers brushed the cover.
A photograph had been placed between the first pages.
Harper picked it up.
Her breath stopped.
It showed Connor kissing Paige.
But the photograph wasn't recent.
The date stamp was three years old.
Harper and Connor had still been together.
Behind them stood Daniel Croft.
Smiling.
Harper turned the page.
There were payment records.
Names.
Dates.
Companies.
Then she found Connor Hayes.
Beside his name:
BENNETT ACCESS — $2,000,000.
Harper whispered, "He didn't meet me by accident."
Roman didn't answer.
She looked at him.
"You knew?"
"No."
Another page.
Another payment.
This one had been made six weeks before Harper and Connor became engaged.
OBJECTIVE: H. BENNETT — CALDER FILE ACCESS.
Harper felt physically sick.
Four years.
Every vacation.
Every anniversary.
Every promise.
Had Connor been paid to stay close to her?
The hotel-room television suddenly turned on.
Static filled the screen.
Then a recorded image appeared.
A woman sat in a chair.
Dark hair.
Tired face.
Harper recognized her from Roman's photograph.
Evelyn Shaw.
The missing lawyer looked directly into the camera.
"If Harper Bennett is watching this, then Daniel failed to stop her."
Harper couldn't move.
Evelyn continued.
"And if Roman Falco is standing beside her, he still doesn't know who betrayed him."
Roman stepped toward the television.
The recording flickered.
Evelyn leaned closer.
"The person running D.C.M. isn't Connor Hayes."
A noise came from the bathroom.
Roman turned.
May you like
The bathroom handle began to move.
Someone was inside.
