Chapter 9 - The Original BetrayalMy grandfather and Marcus Vale's father had built the original banking network together.
Then they had betrayed each other.
At least, that's what the newspaper said.
Rosa found the rest.
"My father told me this was a family feud," I said.
"Families are often used as cover."
We searched the warehouse.
Behind a false wall, we discovered a second archive.
Old letters.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
One photograph showed my grandfather.
The other showed Marcus's father.
Between them stood a third man.
My grandfather's accountant.
His name was Daniel Mercer.
Rosa froze when she saw him.
"You know him?"
"My father worked for him."
I turned.
"What's important about him?"
"He kept the original books."
"What books?"
"The money."
"Which money?"
Rosa pulled out a ledger from the archive.
"The first hidden fortune."
I opened it.
The numbers were enormous.
My grandfather had created a secret reserve worth billions.
Not from crime.
From legitimate investments he had hidden after a hostile takeover.
The money had grown for decades.
Marcus's family knew about it.
My family had tried to protect it.
Then something happened.
A page was missing.
"Where is the rest?"
Rosa looked toward Vanessa.
Vanessa went pale.
"Don't look at me."
"You know something."
She shook her head.
"I know where the original records are."
"Where?"
"At the hospital where Emily was born."
I stared.
"Why there?"
"Because your father knew nobody would search medical archives for financial records."
We drove to the abandoned hospital.
The building had been closed for years.
The lower floors were flooded.
The archives were still intact.
Vanessa found a cabinet.
Inside was a metal box.
My father's name was on it.
I opened it.
There was a photograph.
My father holding a newborn baby.
Emily.
My daughter.
The child Vanessa told me had died.
I looked at her.
"You let me mourn her."
Tears filled her eyes.
"I had no choice."
"You always had a choice."
She whispered:
"Not when Marcus had the hospital records."
A second paper fell from the box.
It was signed by a judge.
I knew the signature.
Judge Richard Cole.
The same judge who had overseen my bankruptcy.
The order had been dated fourteen years earlier.
The document transferred custody of my daughter.
To an unknown guardian.
I stared.
"Who was the guardian?"
Rosa looked at the bottom.
Her expression changed.
I followed her eyes.
Guardian:
Marcus Vale.
The room went silent.
Marcus hadn't discovered my daughter.
He had controlled her from birth.
I felt sick.
"Where did he take her?"
Vanessa closed her eyes.
"Your father's house."
I looked up.
"My father's old house was demolished."
"No."
She shook her head.
"It wasn't."
"What?"
"The official records say it burned down."
"Then where is it?"
Vanessa looked toward Rosa.
Rosa finally spoke.
"Buried beneath the Calloway estate."
My stomach tightened.
"What do you mean?"
"Your father built a second house underneath the first."
A hidden residence.
A shelter.
A place designed for people to disappear.
"Emily is there."
We returned to my mansion.
The main house was still surrounded by police.
But there was another entrance.
Beneath the fountain.
Rosa unlocked it.
The door opened.
A staircase descended into darkness.
We walked for several minutes.
At the bottom, lights flickered on.
There were bedrooms.
A kitchen.
Medical equipment.
Old photographs.
And one chair.
Beside it lay a child's bracelet.
Emily's.
Then we heard footsteps.
Slow.
Steady.
Someone was coming down the corridor.
I raised a metal pipe.
A figure appeared.
He stepped into the light.
Robert Kane.
Impossible.
Robert had been shot.
He had been buried.
Yet he stood there.
Alive.
He smiled.
"Edward."
I stared at him.
"You faked your death."
He nodded.
"I had to."
"Why?"
His smile disappeared.
"Because Marcus isn't the mastermind."
May you like
He looked behind me.
"And he's not the one holding your daughter."
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