Chapter 8 - HER MOTHER’S LAST SECRET
Maya moved closer to the screen.
Her mother looked younger than Maya remembered.
Alive.
Warm.
Terrified.
“I discovered Northbridge by accident.”
The video continued.
“I found payments hidden inside transportation contracts.”
Maya’s father had unknowingly provided the corporate infrastructure Victor needed.
Her mother discovered it during an audit.
She copied everything.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Photographs.
Judges.
Officers.
Executives.
Victor had spent fourteen years trying to locate that evidence.
Maya’s mother had hidden it before she died.
Victor slammed the laptop shut.
“Where is it?”
Ethan laughed.
“You really don’t know.”
Victor hit him.
Maya flinched.
Ethan stayed standing.
Victor turned toward her.
“Your mother gave you something.”
“No.”
“She had to.”
“I was seventeen.”
“She trusted you.”
“She never told me anything.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Think.”
Maya remembered the hospital.
Her mother’s belongings.
A necklace.
A watch.
A handwritten recipe book.
Then something else.
A red folder.
Her mother kept one in the kitchen.
Maya’s eyes widened.
Victor saw it.
“What?”
She immediately controlled her expression.
Too late.
“What did you remember?”
“Nothing.”
Victor smiled.
“You’re a terrible liar.”
Daniel entered.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Cole escaped.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“How?”
“He had backup we didn’t identify.”
Victor looked at Maya.
Time was running out.
“Bring her father.”
Maya’s father was pushed into the room.
He saw Maya.
“Maya.”
“I’m okay.”
Victor approached him.
“Where is your wife’s red ledger?”
Her father stared.
“What?”
“Don’t.”
Maya spoke too quickly.
Victor turned.
He smiled.
“Red ledger.”
Maya cursed herself.
Her father understood immediately.
Victor did too.
“Where is it?”
Her father said nothing.
Victor looked at Daniel.
Daniel grabbed him.
Maya screamed.
“Stop!”
Victor raised one finger.
“Where?”
Maya’s father looked at her.
Something passed between them.
A memory.
Her mother baking bread.
A kitchen renovation.
A joke about never trusting banks.
Maya suddenly knew.
“The house.”
Victor smiled.
“Where in the house?”
Maya looked at him.
“I’ll show you.”
Her father shook his head.
“Maya, no.”
She held his gaze.
Trust me.
Victor ordered Daniel to prepare the vehicles.
They were going back.
But Maya knew something Victor didn’t.
Her mother’s old house had burned down eight years ago.
May you like
The only thing left on the property was the stone fireplace.
And underneath that fireplace was a steel box Maya had been told never to open.
