Chapter 7 - THE WAREHOUSEThe warehouse was abandoned.
Or it looked abandoned.
Three cameras were mounted near the entrance.
Someone was watching.
I walked inside alone.
The folder was in my bag.
Victor's voice echoed from the darkness.
"You came."
I froze.
Victor Hale stepped into the light.
He looked exactly the same as he had at my father's funeral.
Elegant.
Calm.
Almost grandfatherly.
"Where is Clara?"
"Safe."
"Bring her out."
"Not yet."
I looked around.
"Why did you kill my father?"
Victor smiled.
"Your father was not supposed to die."
I felt sick.
"But you killed him."
"He discovered the Protocol."
"What is it?"
Victor's expression changed.
"The reason your father was wealthy."
"That's it?"
"No."
He walked closer.
"The reason several governments owe your family money."
I stared at him.
My father's fortune wasn't just investments.
It was leverage.
The Hart family had developed a proprietary financial network decades ago.
A system capable of moving capital across markets before anyone knew what was happening.
The Hart Protocol.
An algorithm.
A financial weapon.
Victor continued.
"Your father could predict market collapses."
"How?"
"He knew where the money was before the market knew."
I remembered my father's quiet life.
His old car.
His modest house.
He had hidden an empire behind ordinary walls.
Victor smiled.
"When your father died, we thought the Protocol died with him."
"But?"
"But he transferred it."
My heart stopped.
"To me?"
"Yes."
"Where is it?"
Victor smiled.
"That's what we're going to discover."
A door opened behind him.
Clara walked in.
I screamed her name.
She ran toward me.
A guard stopped her.
I stepped forward.
"Let her go."
Victor held up a hand.
"Of course."
The guard released her.
Clara ran into my arms.
I held her tightly.
Victor waited.
"Now the folder."
I handed it over.
He opened it.
His smile vanished.
"What is this?"
"What?"
"This isn't the Protocol."
I stared.
"What do you mean?"
Victor flipped through the pages.
"The real folder."
"There isn't another one."
He looked at me.
Then behind me.
A voice came from the entrance.
"She's telling the truth."
Flynn.
Victor raised his gun.
Flynn stepped into the light.
Victor laughed.
"You always were sentimental."
Flynn aimed back.
"Let them go."
Victor shook his head.
"You don't understand."
He pulled a small device from his pocket.
"Neither does she."
He pressed a button.
Every screen in the warehouse turned on.
I saw my own financial accounts.
Bank transfers.
Investment portfolios.
Asset records.
Then I saw something that made my blood freeze.
My name appeared beside a transaction.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED: MABEL HART.
Date:
Three days after my father's death.
Amount:
$2.1 billion.
I stared.
"I never authorized this."
Victor smiled.
"Exactly."
Flynn's face went pale.
Victor looked at him.
"Tell her."
Flynn didn't move.
"Tell her what happened three years ago."
I looked at my husband.
"What happened?"
He whispered:
"The transfer was made from your account."
"Impossible."
"I know."
"Then who made it?"
Flynn's expression broke.
"Someone using your biometric signature."
I stared at the screen.
Then I noticed something else.
The transaction had been authorized using my fingerprint.
But I had never touched the account.
Victor stepped closer.
"Your father built the Protocol."
He looked at me.
"But someone else built the key."
"Who?"
Victor smiled.
"Your mother."
I stopped breathing.
"My mother died when I was six."
"I know."
May you like
Victor leaned closer.
"That's what everyone was told."
