Chapter 10 - The Bargain at MidnightIsa heard the fighting before she saw anyone.
The guards outside her father's study shouted. Boots thundered down the corridor. Somewhere upstairs, glass shattered.
Then the door opened.
Conrad entered alone.
His suit was still immaculate.
“You're going to be disappointed,” he said. “Your friend has made a very poor decision.”
Isa's heart hammered against her ribs.
“Where is Rhett?”
“Resting.”
“What have you done to him?”
“Nothing permanent.”
She surged against the ropes binding her wrists.
Conrad watched her struggle with mild curiosity.
“Isn't it interesting? You spent three years believing Rhett Valon was your enemy. Now you're willing to die for him.”
“I spent three years trying to discover the truth.”
“And you've discovered it. My nephew signed the order. His father hid the ledger. Your father died trying to save a criminal empire from itself.”
“You're the one who built that empire.”
“I merely understood what it needed.”
He walked toward the desk and opened a drawer.
Inside lay a small silver box.
Isa recognized it immediately.
Her father had owned one exactly like it.
Conrad lifted the lid. Inside was a tiny brass cylinder containing a rolled piece of paper.
“The final page of the ledger,” he said. “Your father gave it to me before he died.”
Isa shook her head.
“No. He would never give you the evidence.”
“He didn't. I took it.”
Conrad removed the paper and unfolded it carefully.
The handwriting was old and faded. Numbers, names, account codes, and short notes filled the page. At the bottom was a handwritten instruction signed by Rhett's father.
If my son ever discovers this page, tell him the debt is not his to repay. The choice is his to make.
Conrad crumpled the page in his fist.
“Sentimental nonsense.”
“You're afraid of it,” Isa said.
His eyes narrowed.
“I'm afraid of nothing.”
“Then why have you spent eight years hunting a dead man's records?”
Conrad stepped toward her.
“Because the people on this page can destroy everything. Judges. Police commanders. Executives. Men who finance elections and decide which investigations disappear. My entire world depends on keeping those names secret.”
“Your world.”
“Our world,” he corrected. “Whether you like it or not, the Valon name is attached to every one of those men.”
Isa looked at the paper in his hand.
Then she understood.
The ledger's power did not come from the money it recorded. It came from the people who had accepted that money.
Conrad wasn't trying to become king.
He was trying to ensure that no one could ever remove him from the throne.
“Let Rhett go,” she said. “Let Elias go. Release Marcus's daughter and his mother, and I'll give you the key.”
Conrad smiled.
“You don't have the key.”
Isa lifted her chin.
“Then I'll give you what I know about the ledger.”
“You're in no position to negotiate.”
“Neither are you. If I die, my brother knows where the original is hidden.”
It was a lie.
She hoped he wouldn't recognize it.
Conrad studied her for several seconds.
Then he walked to the far wall and opened a hidden cabinet.
Inside was a laptop connected to a small external drive.
He turned the screen toward her.
A live video showed Elias kneeling in a warehouse with his hands tied behind his back.
Beside him stood two armed men.
Conrad tapped a key.
A timer appeared.
TEN MINUTES.
“Give me the location of the original ledger.”
Isa's throat tightened.
“Where's Rhett?”
“Not far from your brother.”
“If I tell you, you'll kill them anyway.”
“Perhaps.”
“Then why should I help you?”
Conrad crouched in front of her.
“Because you love them.”
She hated him for being right.
He stood and nodded to the guards.
They untied her hands, pulled her to her feet, and escorted her into the corridor. She could barely stand without pain. Every breath felt like a blade beneath her ribs.
They took her downstairs into the wine cellar.
Rhett lay on the stone floor, his wrists tied behind him. His face was pale, and his breathing was shallow. A bruise darkened his cheek.
Isa dropped beside him.
“Rhett.”
His eyes opened.
For a moment he looked confused, then terrified.
“Isa?”
“I'm here.”
“You shouldn't be here.”
She almost laughed.
“You and your brother need to find new sentences.”
Despite his condition, his mouth curved faintly.
Then his expression turned serious.
“Conrad wants the original ledger.”
“I know.”
“You can't give it to him.”
“I won't.”
He searched her face.
“You're lying.”
She leaned closer.
“I learned from the best.”
Rhett managed a weak breath that might have been a laugh.
Then he squeezed her hand.
“Listen to me. My father hid the original ledger somewhere nobody would think to look. The final page tells us where.”
“Your mother said the last page was missing.”
“It is. But she also told me something when I was a child. A phrase my father used whenever he wanted me to remember a promise.”
“What phrase?”
Rhett closed his eyes, searching.
“Three stones. One truth.”
Isa stared at him.
Her father's study had contained a fireplace made of three carved stones. Beneath the center stone was a hidden compartment she had discovered as a child.
She looked at the brass key in her pocket.
Then she understood where the original ledger was hidden.
“I know where it is.”
Rhett caught her wrist.
“Isa, don't go alone.”
She kissed his forehead.
“Then stop letting your uncle tie you to the floor.”
She rose and moved toward the stairs.
Behind her, Rhett called her name.
She did not turn around.
Because if she looked at him, she might stay.
And if she stayed, everyone she loved would die.
At the top of the cellar stairs, Conrad waited with his pistol raised.
“I was hoping you'd figure it out,” he said.
Isa froze.
May you like
His smile widened.
“Now, my dear, you're going to show me exactly where your father hid the truth.”
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