Chapter 4 - The Man Inside Her Apartment
Khloe’s breath caught.
The man raised both hands.
“Please don’t scream.”
Rebecca moved in front of Khloe.
“Who are you?”
“Daniel Mercer.”
Khloe knew the name.
Daniel had been Chad’s executive assistant before Khloe joined the company.
Everyone had been told he moved to California.
“You worked for Chad.”
Daniel nodded.
“Six years ago.”
“What are you doing in my apartment?”
“Trying to keep you alive.”
Rebecca’s expression remained cold.
“You have five seconds to make that sentence sound less insane.”
Daniel placed the badge on the floor.
“I didn’t break in. Khloe’s landlord let me inside.”
Khloe stared.
“My landlord?”
“He’s my uncle.”
That explained access.
Not everything else.
Daniel pointed to the black envelope.
“Open it.”
Rebecca used gloves from her bag.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Chad standing beside a younger man outside a warehouse.
Vincent.
The photograph was nearly ten years old.
Khloe stared at it.
“They knew each other.”
Daniel nodded.
“Long before tonight.”
On the back of the photograph were three words:
ASK ABOUT MICHAEL.
Rebecca called Vincent.
He arrived with two bodyguards twenty minutes later.
Not Derek.
The moment Vincent saw the photograph, every trace of warmth disappeared from his face.
“Where did you get this?”
Daniel answered.
“Your brother.”
Khloe looked between them.
“Michael?”
Vincent said nothing.
Daniel continued.
“Michael Moretti discovered Chad’s first fraud operation nine years ago.”
Vincent’s voice became dangerous.
“Michael died nine years ago.”
“I know what you were told.”
The room went silent.
Khloe looked at Vincent.
His face had gone pale.
Daniel removed an old phone from his coat.
“I worked for Chad when Michael started investigating him. Chad was laundering stolen investment money through hospitality businesses. Michael found the accounts.”
Vincent stared at the phone.
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
“He died.”
“No body was ever identified.”
Vincent’s eyes flashed.
“My father identified him.”
“Your father identified a watch and a burned vehicle.”
Vincent stepped toward Daniel.
Khloe instinctively touched his arm.
It surprised both of them.
Vincent stopped.
Daniel handed him the phone.
“There’s one recording.”
Vincent pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then a man’s voice.
“Vincent, if you ever hear this, Chad knows.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
Khloe knew immediately.
Michael.
The recording continued.
“I found the accounts. It’s bigger than Wilkins. Don’t trust anyone who tells you they saw my body. I’m going underground until I can prove it.”
The recording ended.
Vincent stood motionless.
Nine years of grief had been ripped open in less than thirty seconds.
Khloe understood something then.
The frightening man who had stood between her and Chad was not invulnerable.
He was a brother who had just heard a dead man’s voice.
“Why didn’t you give him this before?” she asked Daniel.
“Because Chad threatened my family.”
“And now?”
“Because Chad grabbed you publicly.”
Khloe frowned.
Daniel looked at her.
“He panicked. Chad doesn’t panic unless something is about to collapse.”
The pieces connected.
Evan had found the modern accounts.
Daniel knew about the old ones.
Michael had discovered the original scheme.
And Khloe had accidentally become the person standing in the middle.
Vincent looked at Daniel.
“Where is my brother?”
“I don’t know.”
Vincent grabbed his coat.
Daniel stopped him.
“But I know who does.”
He wrote an address on paper.
An abandoned print shop on the South Side.
“Michael left instructions years ago. If Chad ever publicly accused an innocent employee of theft, I was supposed to deliver that address to you.”
Khloe stared.
“That specific?”
Daniel nodded.
“Because it’s Chad’s pattern. He frames employees whenever financial evidence goes missing.”
Khloe felt sick.
“How many?”
“Four that I know of.”
Vincent looked toward her.
She understood his anger now.
This wasn’t simply about her.
Chad had done this before.
Rebecca insisted on contacting law enforcement before anyone went anywhere.
Vincent agreed.
That surprised Khloe.
They provided the recording, Daniel’s statement, and the address to Detective Aaron Cole, who had taken over the fraud investigation.
Cole warned them not to approach the building.
Vincent promised nothing.
Khloe went with him anyway.
“You’re staying in the car,” Vincent said.
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
“And I don’t work for you.”
Vincent looked at her.
For a second, neither spoke.
Then Khloe smiled faintly.
“You’re not used to that sentence, are you?”
“No.”
“Learn it.”
Against all reason, Vincent smiled.
Police reached the print shop first.
The building appeared abandoned.
No Michael.
No Derek.
No Chad.
But they found a locked room in the basement.
Inside were dozens of boxes.
Employment files.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
Every person Chad had ever blamed for missing property had a file.
Khloe found hers.
Her name was written across the front.
KHLOE HARRISON — PHASE 4.
She opened it.
Photographs of her apartment.
Her work schedule.
Her parents’ address.
Her bank information.
Then a printed page titled:
CONTINGENCY PLAN.
Khloe’s hands shook.
Vincent read over her shoulder.
If audit discovered: accuse Harrison.
Plant bracelet.
Destroy Room 17.
Terminate Pierce.
Transfer remaining funds.
Khloe looked up.
“He planned all of it.”
Detective Cole photographed every page.
“This is enough to reopen multiple cases.”
Vincent kept searching.
Then he found another file.
MICHAEL MORETTI.
It was empty except for one photograph.
Michael stood outside a train station.
The timestamp was from six months ago.
Vincent sat down.
“He’s alive.”
Khloe crouched beside him.
For several seconds, the feared Vincent Moretti looked like a man afraid to believe something good.
Then Detective Cole called from the next room.
“Moretti.”
They entered.
A laptop sat open.
Someone had accessed it minutes earlier.
A live security feed showed the Obsidian Lounge.
Chad stood in the empty ballroom.
Beside him was Derek.
And between them sat Evan.
His hands were tied.
Chad leaned toward the camera.
He knew they were watching.
Then he held up the missing flash drive.
“Vincent,” he said.
May you like
“Come get it.”
The screen went black.
