Chapter 5 - The Missing PartnerRobert Kane hit the ground beside the fountain.
For half a second, nobody moved.
Then Vanessa screamed.
I ran toward him.
Harold grabbed my shoulder.
"Don't."
"He's bleeding."
"It's too late."
Robert's fingers moved.
He was alive.
Barely.
I knelt beside him.
"Who shot you?"
His lips moved.
I leaned closer.
"Harold."
Harold froze.
Robert coughed blood.
"Not Harold."
His eyes found mine.
"Your father..."
He stopped.
"Tell me."
"Your father had a daughter."
I stared at him.
"What?"
Robert's eyes widened.
"Not you."
My mind went blank.
He tried to speak again.
"She survived."
Then his head rolled to the side.
Dead.
I sat there, staring.
My father had no other children.
At least that was what I had always believed.
Vanessa stood behind me.
She was shaking.
"Edward..."
"You knew."
She didn't answer.
"Did you know?"
She whispered:
"Yes."
I stood.
"How old is she?"
Vanessa looked toward Harold.
He closed his eyes.
"Twenty-seven."
A strange silence filled the garden.
Twenty-seven.
That meant she had been born before my father's death.
Before I knew my family.
Before any of this.
"Where is she?"
Harold said nothing.
Vanessa finally spoke.
"She was raised under another name."
"What name?"
"Elena Reyes."
The name meant nothing.
"Where is she?"
Harold pulled out his phone.
"She disappeared three months ago."
I stared at him.
"Convenient."
"No."
His voice cracked.
"She was taken."
"By who?"
He looked at Robert's body.
"The same people who are coming for you."
A siren sounded in the distance.
Then another.
Rosa emerged from the tunnel.
She was carrying a metal case.
She saw Robert.
Her face went pale.
"They found him."
I looked at her.
"Did you know my father had another child?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Everyone knew except me."
"Your father was protecting her."
"From what?"
Rosa looked at Vanessa.
"From the person who wanted her dead."
I followed her gaze.
Vanessa looked terrified.
"Who?"
Rosa opened the metal case.
Inside was an old newspaper.
The headline read:
CALLAWAY HEIRESS PRESUMED DEAD IN PRIVATE PLANE CRASH.
I stared.
The article described the death of a woman I had never heard of.
"That's her mother?"
"No."
Rosa pointed at the photograph.
"That's Elena."
My hands went numb.
The date was sixteen years ago.
I looked closer.
The photograph showed a young woman standing outside a courthouse.
She looked remarkably like my father.
Then I noticed something else.
She was wearing a necklace.
A small silver key.
Rosa whispered:
"Your father hid the second ledger inside her inheritance."
I looked up.
"Second ledger?"
"The first one contains transactions."
"And the second?"
"Names."
"Whose names?"
"Everyone who participated."
I looked at the newspaper again.
"Why did you think she was dead?"
"Because that is what they wanted us to believe."
Suddenly Harold's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
"What?"
He listened.
Then looked at me.
"The mansion is surrounded."
"By police?"
"No."
"Then who?"
He lowered the phone.
"Federal agents."
I exhaled.
"That's good."
Harold shook his head.
"They have a sealed federal order."
"For what?"
"To seize you."
Vanessa stepped forward.
"Edward, listen to me."
I turned.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"The man ordering this operation has one reason to destroy you."
"What reason?"
She whispered:
"Because your father left you the master key."
I looked down at the silver key engraved into my father's box.
I had thought it was ordinary.
Rosa stared at it.
Then she said:
"No."
I turned.
"What?"
Her face had gone white.
"That's not a key."
"Then what is it?"
She pointed toward the mansion.
"It's a token."
"A token for what?"
May you like
Rosa swallowed.
"The account containing the stolen money."
Related Stories
