Chapter 11 - The Final SongMy father had written dozens of songs.
Only one had never been finished.
He called it “Lullaby for Lena.”
I remembered it.
Three pages.
A melody I had played as a child.
We spread the music across the dining table.
Catherine studied the numbers.
“This isn’t music.”
Julian nodded.
“It’s a substitution cipher.”
I stared at him.
“You know how to decode it?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you do.”
He flinched.
I hated that I still noticed.
His pain.
His guilt.
His attempts to protect me.
Because none of that erased what he had done.
“Decode it.”
We spent two hours matching symbols.
Then a phrase appeared.
SECOND KEY.
Beneath it:
WHERE SHE LEFT HIM.
I frowned.
“Who is she?”
My mother knew immediately.
“Me.”
We all looked at her.
She closed her eyes.
“When I left your father, I left something behind.”
“What?”
“My original identity documents.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
She looked at Julian.
“It does to him.”
Julian nodded slowly.
“Victoria kept them.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother had proof of the first Blackstone transfers.”
I stared.
“So the ledger is tied to her.”
“Yes.”
We found the second key inside an old photograph.
The photograph showed my parents standing outside a house.
I recognized it.
My grandmother’s cottage.
We drove there.
The house had been empty for years.
My mother stood on the porch.
“I haven’t been here since before you were born.”
Inside, everything smelled of dust and cedar.
She walked directly toward an old fireplace.
Then stopped.
“My father built this.”
She touched a brick.
There was a hidden latch.
The wall opened.
Inside was a metal case.
The key fit.
The lid opened.
Inside was the ledger.
Not paper.
A small black device.
Catherine stared.
“This is it.”
Julian took one step forward.
Then stopped.
“Don’t.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He pointed toward the doorway.
“There.”
A red laser dot appeared on the wall beside my head.
Sniper.
Gunfire exploded through the window.
The glass shattered.
I screamed.
Julian tackled me to the floor.
Another shot.
Then another.
My mother crawled behind the fireplace.
Catherine grabbed the device.
“We have to move!”
We ran through the back door.
A black SUV waited outside.
Men jumped out.
I thought we were trapped.
Then another vehicle slammed into the SUV.
Marcus stepped out.
Bleeding.
“Get in!”
We did.
As the car sped away, I looked at the black device in Catherine’s hands.
“We have the ledger.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
I stared.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“That isn’t the ledger.”
My heart sank.
“Then what is it?”
“A decoy.”
He looked at Julian.
“And they knew we would find it.”
Julian’s face went pale.
“Then where is the real one?”
Marcus answered.
“In the only place Victoria would never think to search.”
I frowned.
“Where?”
May you like
He looked directly at me.
“Your wedding photographs.”
