Chapter 9 - The Memory I Couldn't RememberI spent the next hour trying to prove my father wrong.
I couldn't.
He showed me records.
Bank accounts I had never opened.
Companies registered under my name.
Photographs from meetings I didn't remember.
Contracts signed with my handwriting.
I felt sick.
“I never did these.”
“You did.”
“When?”
“Before Lily died.”
“What happened to me?”
My father didn't answer.
Vanessa finally spoke.
“Gabriel drugged you.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“To make you forget.”
“Forget what?”
“The night your father disappeared.”
I sat down.
My father explained.
Three years ago, he discovered Gabriel had betrayed him.
Gabriel stole the Black Ledger.
My father staged his death to investigate from the shadows.
Lily discovered the truth.
She began collecting evidence.
But Gabriel discovered her.
Then came the car crash.
“I tried to stop him,” my father said.
“But you failed.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“Did Lily know you were alive?”
“Yes.”
The answer broke something inside me.
“She knew?”
“She was protecting you.”
“Then why didn't she tell me?”
“Because you were being watched.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“I helped Gabriel get close to Lily.”
I looked at her.
“You knew he planned to kill her.”
“I knew he wanted the files.”
“You left my wife alone with him.”
“I was afraid.”
I stood.
“You were afraid?”
Vanessa cried.
“I was trapped.”
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“You put my son in a cage.”
Her face collapsed.
“I was trying to make him tell me where the ledger was.”
“You already knew Lily hid something.”
“Yes.”
“But you didn't know where.”
“No.”
“Then why hurt Noah?”
“Because he was the only person Lily trusted.”
Silence.
My father suddenly looked toward the window.
“We need to leave.”
“What?”
“Now.”
A red laser dot appeared on the wall.
Daniel's warning echoed in my mind.
Someone was aiming at us.
Glass exploded.
My father shoved me down.
Vanessa screamed.
A second shot.
Then a third.
My father collapsed.
“Dad!”
Blood spread across his shirt.
I crawled toward him.
He grabbed my wrist.
“Find the ledger.”
“Where?”
He coughed.
“In the only place Lily knew you'd never search.”
“What place?”
He looked toward Vanessa.
“Her grave.”
Then he died.
I stared at him.
No tears came.
Not yet.
My phone buzzed.
A video arrived.
Noah appeared on the screen.
He was sitting in a dark room.
His teddy bear was beside him.
A man's voice spoke off-camera.
“Bring the Black Ledger.”
The camera moved closer to Noah.
“He has one hour.”
The video ended.
I looked at Vanessa.
She whispered:
“They have him.”
I stood.
“Then we're getting him back.”
She grabbed my sleeve.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“There is something I never told you.”
“What now?”
She stared at me.
“The person who ordered Lily's death…”
May you like
She hesitated.
“…is already inside your house.”
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