Chapter 3 - The Name on the LedgerRachel read the message twice.
“Why would they mention my mother?”
Daniel didn't answer.
He was staring at the photograph.
The man standing beside him was Victor Hale.
Victor had served Daniel's father for twenty years.
He had taught Daniel everything about loyalty.
Or at least, that was what Daniel had believed.
“Who is he?”
“Victor.”
“Your security chief?”
“No.”
“Your adviser?”
“Yes.”
Rachel watched his face.
“You don't trust him.”
Daniel put the phone down.
“I trusted him.”
“That isn't the same answer.”
“No.”
It wasn't.
Daniel had known Victor since he was fourteen.
Victor had been there when Daniel's father died.
He had been there during the family war that followed.
He had been there when Daniel took control of the Moretti empire.
He was the man Daniel called when he needed something done quietly.
The idea that Victor might have been working against him felt impossible.
But impossible had become a useless word.
Daniel opened another safe.
Inside was an old ledger.
Rachel frowned.
“What is that?”
“My father's private accounts.”
“Why haven't you shown me before?”
“Because I never thought you'd need to see them.”
He opened to the middle.
Several entries had been circled in red.
Rachel studied them.
“What am I looking at?”
“Medical equipment.”
Her eyes widened.
The same supplier names.
The same warehouse.
The same coded markings.
Then Rachel found something.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
She pointed.
The transactions were dated fifteen years earlier.
“This started before your current company existed.”
Daniel stared at the page.
His father's company had purchased equipment through the same network years before.
Rachel whispered, “This isn't new.”
“No.”
“It was inherited.”
Daniel nodded.
Someone had been using the Moretti name for years.
But why?
Rachel turned another page.
A handwritten notation caught her eye.
Project Mercy.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Rachel found another phrase.
Subject transfer approved.
Her expression changed.
“Daniel.”
He leaned closer.
“This doesn't sound like equipment.”
“No.”
The words made the room colder.
A knock sounded.
Both of them turned.
Victor entered without waiting.
“You asked for me?”
Daniel closed the ledger.
“No.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Then I chose the wrong room.”
Rachel studied him.
Victor looked at her.
“So you're Rachel.”
“Yes.”
“I've heard quite a lot.”
Daniel watched him carefully.
“What exactly have you heard?”
Victor shrugged.
“That you're stubborn.”
Rachel didn't smile.
“I've been called worse.”
“I imagine.”
Victor placed a folder on the desk.
“There was another shipment.”
Daniel didn't touch it.
“Where?”
“St. Catherine.”
Rachel's stomach tightened.
“Another machine?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you bringing the file to us?”
Victor looked at her.
“Because I think you should see it.”
Daniel opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph of a machine.
Rachel immediately recognized the serial label.
“That shouldn't be there.”
Victor raised an eyebrow.
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
She leaned closer.
“This serial number was destroyed.”
Victor's expression didn't change.
“Interesting.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Why did you sound surprised?”
“I didn't.”
“You did.”
Victor sighed.
“Daniel, I came here to warn you.”
“About what?”
“Your wife.”
Rachel stiffened.
Victor continued.
“She shouldn't be involved in this.”
Daniel stood.
“She already is.”
“That is exactly the problem.”
Victor looked at Rachel.
“People who ask too many questions around the Moretti family tend to disappear.”
Daniel's eyes sharpened.
“Are you threatening her?”
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“I'm warning you.”
He turned to leave.
Rachel spoke.
“One question.”
Victor stopped.
“Did you know my mother?”
Victor slowly turned around.
The silence lasted too long.
Daniel noticed.
Rachel noticed too.
Victor's smile disappeared.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because someone told me to.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Victor stared at her.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“You need to lock her in this house.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Why?”
Victor's voice dropped.
“Because your father once made the same mistake.”
He left.
The door closed.
Rachel stared at Daniel.
“What mistake?”
Daniel didn't know.
But he suddenly remembered something from childhood.
A woman screaming.
A hospital corridor.
His father's voice telling him:
Never ask about Project Mercy.
Daniel had forgotten the memory.
Or thought he had.
Now it had returned.
That night, Daniel went through old family records.
At 2:17 a.m., he found a photograph.
His father.
Victor.
A younger Emma.
And a woman standing behind them.
Daniel's breath caught.
He knew that woman.
Rachel entered the study.
“What did you find?”
Daniel turned the photograph around.
Rachel stopped breathing.
The woman looked exactly like her.
Not similar.
Not vaguely familiar.
Exactly.
Rachel whispered:
“That isn't possible.”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
The date was printed on the back.
Seventeen years ago.
Rachel's mother had supposedly disappeared twenty years earlier.
But there she was.
May you like
Standing inside the Moretti family compound.
And beside her was Daniel's father.
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