Chapter 8 - MY FATHER’S BOX
My hands shook as I opened the box.
Inside were ledgers.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And a small digital recorder.
I pressed play.
My father’s voice filled the hidden room.
“Olivia, if you’re hearing this, something has gone very wrong.”
I covered my mouth.
Seven years.
Seven years since I had heard his voice.
Daniel stepped away to give me privacy.
My father continued.
“Hart Capital has been compromised from inside.”
My eyes burned.
“Victoria knows some of it.”
I froze.
“But I don’t believe she knows everything.”
He named executives.
Bankers.
Shell companies.
Some names I knew.
Some I didn’t.
Then he said a name that made my stomach drop.
“Richard Mercer.”
Gavin’s father.
I stopped the recorder.
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“What?”
I played it again.
Richard Mercer.
Gavin’s father had been connected to the same financial network my father was investigating years before I ever met Gavin.
Suddenly our relationship no longer felt accidental.
I kept listening.
My father explained that Richard Mercer had used struggling companies to move funds through false consulting agreements.
Exactly what Gavin was doing now.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
“If Richard ever gets close to Olivia, it will not be by coincidence.”
I felt physically sick.
Gavin had met me at a charity gala four years earlier.
He spilled wine near my table.
Made me laugh.
Asked for my number.
I had believed it was chance.
Maybe it never was.
I grabbed the box.
“We need Reyes.”
We carried everything upstairs.
Agent Reyes examined the files.
His expression changed page by page.
“This could connect several cases.”
My phone buzzed again.
Another message.
This time, a video.
Andrew sat tied to a chair.
His face was bruised.
A distorted voice spoke behind the camera.
“Stop the board conversion.”
Then Andrew looked directly at the lens.
“Olivia, don’t.”
Someone struck him.
The video ended.
I nearly dropped the phone.
Reyes grabbed it.
“We can trace metadata.”
Miriam touched my shoulder.
“You cannot give them control of the company.”
“I know.”
But Andrew could die.
Then Daniel entered.
“Richard Mercer just arrived.”
I looked up.
Gavin’s father walked into the hotel lobby wearing a dark overcoat.
Calm.
Controlled.
Like a man arriving for brunch.
Not a man whose son was facing federal investigation.
He requested to see me.
I went down with Reyes nearby.
Richard smiled.
“Olivia.”
“Where is Andrew?”
His smile faded.
“I have no idea.”
“My father knew you.”
That changed him.
Only slightly.
But enough.
I held up the recorder.
“Seven years ago.”
Richard’s eyes settled on it.
Then he whispered:
“Your father should have destroyed that.”
There it was.
I stepped closer.
“What did you do to him?”
Richard smiled again.
“Wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
May you like
He leaned toward me.
“Ask what your aunt did the night your father died.”
