Chapter 6 - Khloe's Secret File
Thomas lowered the weapon almost immediately.
"There's someone behind you."
Damian turned.
A figure disappeared through another doorway.
Leo ran after him.
Seconds later he returned.
"Gone."
Damian looked at Thomas.
"You could try saying that before pointing a gun at me."
Thomas tucked the weapon away.
"I'll work on my communication."
Khloe stared at him.
"You followed us?"
"I followed Evelyn."
"Why?"
"Because I don't trust her."
Damian opened Samuel Bell's file.
Inside was not a name.
It was evidence.
Photographs of financial transfers.
Recorded meetings.
Copies of security access logs.
And one handwritten statement from Samuel.
EDWARD RAINER ORDERED DOMINIC'S DEATH. GABRIEL VALE EXECUTED THE PLAN. I HAVE NO PROOF THAT WILL SURVIVE COURT YET.
Damian exhaled.
Rainer.
At last.
A name.
But Khloe kept reading.
"There is more."
The next paragraph changed everything.
RA INER IS NOT THE PRINCIPAL. HE REPORTS TO SOMEONE ELSE.
Damian's frustration sharpened.
"Of course he does."
Thomas leaned over.
Samuel had included a code.
H-17.
Khloe recognized it.
"I've seen that."
"Where?"
"In the offshore account."
She opened her laptop.
H-17 appeared repeatedly beside transfers.
Not a person.
A designation.
"Maybe an account?"
Leo returned to the screen.
"Or a trust."
They searched.
Hawthorne Trust 17.
Created thirty-one years earlier.
Beneficiary confidential.
Administrator—
Khloe stopped.
"Bell & Mercer."
Marcus stared.
"My father's law firm and Leo's father's security company."
Leo shook his head.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does if they created the trust for somebody."
Damian looked at Marcus.
"Can you access old client records?"
"Some."
"Do it."
Marcus logged into an archive.
Hawthorne Trust.
One scanned document remained.
Beneficiary initials:
A.V.
"Adrian Vale," Thomas said.
Too easy.
Khloe shook her head.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
"If Adrian owned the trust, why hide him behind H-17 when his own company was already moving the money?"
Damian understood.
"Someone wanted investigators to assume A.V. meant Adrian Vale."
Khloe nodded.
"Exactly."
"Then who else?"
Marcus searched.
One historical Russo Holdings employee.
Alexander Voss.
Chief financial officer.
Dead twelve years.
Another.
Amelia Vance.
Board member.
Retired.
Then Khloe saw a third.
Anthony Vale.
Adrian and Gabriel's father.
Deceased thirty years earlier.
Thomas frowned.
"The trust was created one year before Anthony died."
"Could be inheritance."
Damian looked at the dates.
"Or succession."
Khloe checked beneficiaries added later.
One encrypted entry appeared after Anthony's death.
She cracked the file using a password she'd discovered during her earlier investigation.
A name appeared.
Gabriel Anthony Vale.
G.A.V.
Khloe whispered, "Gabriel inherited it."
Damian nodded.
"Then Rainer worked for Gabriel."
Thomas looked unsettled.
"No."
"What?"
"Gabriel wasn't the leader."
"You seem certain."
"I met him."
"When?"
"Nineteen years ago."
Thomas finally admitted the piece he'd hidden.
After his staged death, Gabriel had found him.
Not to kill him.
To make an offer.
"Gabriel wanted out."
Damian stared.
"Out of what?"
"Rainer's operation."
Gabriel had helped build it.
Then discovered Rainer had begun targeting their own partners.
Victor Mercer first.
Dominic next.
Gabriel feared he would follow.
"He offered me evidence in exchange for protection."
"What happened?"
"He disappeared before the meeting."
Khloe looked at her father.
"And now he's back."
"Yes."
"Why take me?"
Thomas couldn't answer.
Damian could.
"To force Thomas out of hiding."
Everyone turned.
"Gabriel knew Thomas would come for his daughter."
Khloe looked at Thomas.
"So I was bait."
"Yes."
Her father looked broken.
"I'm sorry."
Khloe walked away.
Damian followed.
She stood beside a dusty window.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Good."
She looked at him.
He added, "I'd be worried if you said yes."
That earned the faintest smile.
Then she whispered, "I lied to you."
Damian didn't pretend not to understand.
"For three years."
"You omitted information."
"That's a polite way to say it."
"I employ lawyers. I've learned useful vocabulary."
She looked at him.
"I took the job because of your father."
"I know."
"I searched files I wasn't authorized to search."
"I know."
"I used you."
That one hurt.
Damian remained silent.
Khloe's eyes filled.
"At first."
He looked at her.
"At first?"
"I thought you might know something. Then I realized you didn't."
"When?"
"Four months after I started."
"You stayed almost three more years."
"Yes."
"Why?"
She stared at him.
Damian waited.
Khloe opened her mouth.
Leo interrupted.
"We found Evelyn."
The moment vanished.
A traffic camera had captured the car.
It stopped outside an old hotel in Lower Manhattan.
Damian knew the building.
His father once owned it.
They arrived thirty minutes later.
Evelyn sat alone in a ballroom.
Unhurt.
She looked furious.
Damian approached.
"Were you kidnapped?"
"No."
Everyone stopped.
Evelyn stood.
"I went voluntarily."
Damian stared.
"Why?"
"Because Rainer called me."
"And you didn't tell us?"
"He threatened you."
"I've been threatened before."
"Not like this."
She handed Damian a phone.
A recorded call.
Rainer's voice.
Bring me Dominic's ledger page, or Damian learns what his father did the night Victor Mercer died.
Leo froze.
"What did Dominic do?"
Evelyn looked at him.
"Nothing."
"Then why be afraid?"
"Because Rainer has spent nineteen years making lies look like evidence."
Leo's face hardened.
"My father deserves the truth."
"So does mine," Damian said.
Khloe added, "So does everyone."
Evelyn nodded.
"Then there's something you need to see."
She walked toward the ballroom stage.
Behind a curtain stood an old film projector.
A reel had already been loaded.
"This hotel hosted a private meeting the night before Victor Mercer died."
"Who recorded it?"
"Dominic."
She switched on the projector.
Grainy footage appeared.
Victor Mercer entered.
Dominic followed.
Then Edward Rainer.
They argued.
No sound.
A fourth man entered.
Damian stared.
Thomas stepped closer.
"That's Gabriel."
On-screen, Gabriel handed Victor a folder.
Victor opened it.
Then looked toward Dominic.
The men shook hands.
Not enemies.
Allies.
Rainer suddenly left.
The footage ended.
Leo whispered, "My father was helping Dominic."
"Yes," Evelyn said.
"Then why did he die?"
"Because Rainer discovered them."
Damian turned.
"How do you know?"
Evelyn reached into her coat.
"Because your father gave me this."
Another recording.
Audio only.
Rainer's voice.
Clear.
"If Mercer talks, remove him."
Another voice answered.
Gabriel.
"No."
Rainer: "That wasn't a request."
Then Gabriel said something none of them expected.
"You don't give the orders anymore."
The recording stopped.
Damian stared at Evelyn.
"Where's the rest?"
"There isn't any."
Khloe's phone buzzed.
Unknown sender.
She opened it.
A photograph filled the screen.
Gabriel Vale.
Alive.
Standing in front of Russo Tower.
Taken seconds earlier.
Text appeared underneath.
KHLOE, YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT DAMIAN.
Another message.
BUT YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT YOUR FATHER.
Khloe's face tightened.
A final photograph loaded.
Thomas Hayes.
Standing beside Edward Rainer.
The timestamp was three days ago.
Khloe slowly raised her eyes toward her father.
Thomas had disappeared from the ballroom.
May you like
The side door swung gently behind him.
And from somewhere in the corridor, Khloe heard her father shout her name...
