CHAPTER 4 — The Secret Father
The evidence vault beneath federal headquarters smelled of cold steel and dust.
Elena stood beside two federal investigators.
Damian sat across the room in handcuffs.
Neither had spoken during the entire drive.
The safety deposit box rested on the metal table.
An investigator inserted the recovered key.
Click.
The heavy door opened.
Inside were only four items.
A flash drive.
A faded photograph.
A leather notebook.
And one sealed envelope.
Across the envelope, handwritten in blue ink, were seven words.
For Elena... if I'm already dead.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Inside was a letter.
She unfolded the aging paper.
"Elena..."
"If you're reading this, I failed."
"They know I discovered who really owns the Voss empire."
"But that isn't the biggest secret."
She continued reading.
"Damian isn't the man they're protecting."
She stopped breathing.
"What?"
The investigator gently nodded.
"Keep reading."
"Damian has spent his life believing he inherited everything from Victor Voss."
"He didn't."
"Victor stole the company."
"The real founder disappeared twenty-eight years ago."
Elena slowly lowered the paper.
"No..."
The investigator inserted the flash drive into a secure laptop.
An old video appeared.
Lucas Hale sat inside a motel room.
He looked exhausted.
"If this recording survives..."
"...someone tried to silence me."
He held up several old documents.
"I finally found the original ownership records."
He placed an old family photograph beside them.
"There were two partners."
"Victor Voss..."
"...and Michael Laurent."
Elena stared at the screen.
Michael Laurent.
Her late father.
She couldn't breathe.
Lucas continued.
"Victor framed Michael for financial crimes."
"He stole every share."
"He forced the Laurent family into bankruptcy."
"He changed corporate records."
"And everyone believed Michael disappeared because he was guilty."
Lucas looked directly into the camera.
"He wasn't."
"He was murdered."
The room exploded with shock.
Elena stepped backward.
Her father...
hadn't abandoned his family.
He had been killed.
Everything she believed for twenty-eight years had been a lie.
She turned toward Damian.
He looked just as devastated.
"I didn't know."
She searched his face.
For the first time...
She believed him.
Damian slowly whispered,
"My father destroyed yours..."
"...and I spent my whole life unknowingly benefiting from it."
Before anyone could speak—
The investigator's phone rang.
He answered.
Then his expression turned grim.
"What happened?"
He listened for several seconds.
When he hung up, he looked at everyone.
"There's been another murder."
The room fell silent.
"Who?"
The investigator swallowed.
"The prison transport carrying Veronica..."
"...was attacked."
"She survived."
"But before losing consciousness..."
"...she gave us one name."
Everyone waited.
The investigator finally spoke.
"'The Chairman.'"
"The man behind Victor."
"The man who controlled the Voss family for thirty years."
He looked directly at Elena.
"According to Veronica..."
"...he's still alive."
And somewhere in the shadows of New York...
An old man smiled as he watched the news.
Because Elena had just uncovered only the first layer of a conspiracy that had ruled America's financial elite for three decades.
The real enemy...
May you like
Hadn't even introduced himself yet.
END OF CHAPTER 4...
