Chapter 5 - THE BURIED PASTThe rain had turned into a downpour by the time Ryan and Maya returned to their home. Oliver was asleep upstairs in his bedroom under the care of a trusted private nurse Ryan had hired directly through the hospital chief of staff.
Downstairs in the study, Ryan poured two fingers of whiskey into a glass, but didn't drink. He stood facing the fireplace, looking at the painting of his late father, Richard Whitmore.
“What did she mean, Maya?” Ryan asked without turning around. “What is Project Genesis? And why did she mention your father?”
Maya sat on the leather sofa, her hands tucked between her knees. The secrets she had kept for six years were finally clawing their way out.
“My father didn't die in a random hit-and-run, Ryan,” Maya whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of thunder outside. “He was an industrial research chemist for Whitmore Pharmaceuticals twenty years ago. He was working on a secret neurological development drug codenamed Genesis.”
Ryan turned around, brow furrowed. “Whitmore Pharmaceuticals was liquidated after my father died.”
“Because Project Genesis was a disaster,” Maya said, tears brimming in her eyes. “It caused severe long-term organ toxicity in clinical trial subjects. My father tried to blow the whistle. He took the research data and threatened to go to the FDA. The night he was going to turn the files over, your father’s car struck him on Route 9. My father died instantly.”
Ryan felt as if the room was spinning. “My father killed your father?”
“It was ruled an accident,” Maya continued. “Your mother paid off the investigators. She buried the entire project. But my father had hidden the primary research ledger in an offshore trust. When I met you six years ago... I didn't meet you by accident, Ryan.”
Ryan froze. The whiskey glass slipped from his fingers, crashing onto the hardwood floor and shattering into a hundred glittering shards.
“What are you saying?” Ryan’s voice was a barely audible whisper.
“I came to Chicago to find out what happened to my father,” Maya sobbed, burying her face in her hands. “I targeted you. I got close to you to get access to the Whitmore archives. But then... then I fell in love with you, Ryan! I realized you knew nothing about your parents' crimes! You were innocent! So I abandoned my revenge. I hid my real maiden name. I locked the ledger away and decided to build a life with you!”
“You lied to me from the very first second we met,” Ryan said, stepping backward, staring at her as if she were a complete stranger.
May you like
“I did it to protect us!” Maya begged, dropping to her knees on the rug. “Your mother found out who I really was six months ago! That’s why she ran that fake DNA test! That’s why she’s been trying to ruin me! She knew that if I ever released my father’s ledger, the Whitmore foundation would be dismantled, and she would go to prison for complicity in murder!”
Before Ryan could respond, the front door bell rang with heavy, frantic blows.
