Chapter 8 - THE CHEF WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The hospital room became silent.
Victor Voss stared at the floor.
For years, he carried a secret.
And now it was finally standing in front of him.
Ronan.
Elena Callahan’s son.
The boy he once promised to protect.
“I was twenty-seven when I met your mother,” Victor said.
Ronan didn’t speak.
“She wasn’t like people thought.”
“Meaning?”
“Everyone saw the money.”
Victor looked toward the window.
“But Elena cared about people more than she cared about power.”
Tessa listened carefully.
“She knew someone inside the company was stealing from her.”
Ronan’s expression changed.
“Who?”
Victor hesitated.
That hesitation said everything.
“You know.”
Ronan stepped closer.
“Say the name.”
Victor looked terrified.
“Your father.”
The room went completely still.
Tessa looked at Ronan.
She expected anger.
Instead, she saw something worse.
Pain.
“My father died before she did.”
Victor nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then how?”
Victor looked at him.
“Because your father wasn’t the only person involved.”
Ronan’s jaw tightened.
“Who else?”
Victor looked at Tessa.
Then at the door.
“Someone is listening.”
Everyone turned.
The hallway was empty.
But Victor lowered his voice.
“The person who killed your mother has been close to you for fourteen years.”
Ronan stared.
“Who?”
Victor closed his eyes.
“I can’t say.”
“Why?”
“Because if I tell you…”
He swallowed.
“They will kill everyone connected to this.”
Tessa stepped forward.
“Then why tell us anything?”
Victor looked at her.
“Because you made the recipe.”
A confused expression crossed her face.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Victor smiled sadly.
“Everything.”
He looked at Ronan.
“Your mother didn’t hide the recipe because it was special.”
Ronan frowned.
“Then why?”
“Because she hid something inside it.”
Tessa felt a chill.
“Inside a recipe?”
Victor nodded.
“A message.”
Later that evening, Ronan returned to Beaumont House with Tessa.
Neither spoke.
Too many questions.
Too many secrets.
Inside the kitchen, Tessa opened Eda’s notebook again.
She studied every page.
Ingredients.
Notes.
Marks.
Suddenly, she noticed something.
The measurements.
They weren’t random.
She grabbed a pen.
“What are you doing?”
Ronan watched.
“Eda never wrote measurements.”
“She did.”
“No.”
Tessa pointed.
“She hid them.”
She connected the numbers.
Page by page.
Line by line.
Then something appeared.
A date.
And a location.
Ronan stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“What?”
“That date…”
His face changed.
“It’s the night my mother died.”
Tessa looked at the location.
A place outside New Orleans.
An abandoned church.
Ronan picked up his phone.
“Call security.”
Tessa stopped him.
“Why?”
“Because we’re going there.”
An hour later, they arrived.
The church had been abandoned for years.
Broken windows.
Dust everywhere.
Nothing moved.
Until they entered the basement.
There was a small wooden box.
Exactly like the one from the warehouse.
Ronan opened it.
Inside was a letter.
His mother’s handwriting.
His hands shook.
He opened it.
The first sentence destroyed everything he believed.
Ronan, if you are reading this, then I am already gone.
Tessa watched his face change.
He continued.
The person who betrayed me is someone you trust. Someone you would never suspect.
Ronan stopped reading.
Because underneath the letter…
was a second page.
A list of names.
And at the bottom…
May you like
one name circled in red.
Ronan Callahan.
