“I can't.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at her.
“Because your father is still alive.”
Whitney froze.
“What?”
“He didn't disappear.”
“He's alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Victor looked toward the window.
“That is what the people hunting you are trying to find.”
“Why?”
“Because your father has the one thing they never recovered.”
“What?”
“The original ledger.”
Whitney stared.
“The ledger that proves who ordered Li Wei's death.”
Before she could ask another question, the lights went out.
A loud crack shattered the window.
Glass rained across the room.
Someone had fired from outside.
Victor pulled Whitney to the floor.
“Don't move.”
Another shot struck the wall.
Then silence.
Victor grabbed the metal box.
“We have to go.”
Whitney pulled it back.
“No.”
“This belongs to me.”
Victor looked at her.
Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“You're finally thinking like your grandmother.”
He pointed toward the door.
“Now we find your father.”
Across the city, an old man sat alone in a dark room.
His name was Thomas.
Before him lay a worn leather ledger.
Hundreds of names filled its pages.
Gerald Covington.
Victor Hale.
Lawyers.
Bankers.
Executives.
Witnesses.
People who had been paid to disappear.
Thomas closed the ledger when Claire Morgan entered.
“You shouldn't have come,” he said.
“I had to.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“For now.”
Thomas looked at the ledger.
“She has the box?”
Claire nodded.
“And Victor?”
“She is with him.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“That complicates everything.”
“It was already complicated.”
Thomas shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then tell me.”
He stared at the ledger.
“I should have protected her father.”
Claire sighed.
“David knew what he was doing.”
“He was young.”
“He was twenty-nine.”
“He trusted the wrong people.”
“So did Li Wei.”
Thomas looked away.
“And Evelyn.”
Claire moved closer.
“We're running out of time.”
Thomas finally admitted the truth.
Gerald knew Whitney had the box.
Someone had seen her leaving the apartment.
Thomas became frightened.
“Does Gerald know about me?”
“Not yet.”
“Then that's what we need to protect.”
Claire looked at the ledger.
“Or expose.”
Meanwhile, Whitney sat inside Victor's car with the metal box on her lap.
Rain struck the windshield.
“Where are we going?”
“A safe location.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“An old warehouse.”
“That sounds reassuring.”
Victor almost smiled.
“You're becoming more like your grandmother every minute.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Why?”
“Because I barely knew her.”
Victor grew quiet.
Whitney looked at him.
“Were you there when Li Wei died?”
Silence.
Finally, Victor answered.
“Yes.”
Whitney's heart dropped.
“What happened?”
“Not yet.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“You're not ready.”
“You don't get to decide that.”
Victor nodded.
“You're right.”
Then Whitney noticed another car following them.
Victor saw it too.
The vehicle accelerated.
Victor turned sharply into a narrow alley.
They waited in darkness until the pursuing car passed.
Then Victor changed direction.
“Now we're going somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“To meet your father.”
Whitney froze.
“What?”
“He contacted me twenty minutes ago.”
“You didn't tell me?”
“I wasn't sure the message was genuine.”
“You know where he is?”
“Yes.”
“Then take me to him.”
The meeting took place in an old bookstore.
The lights were off.
The smell of old paper filled the air.
Victor unlocked the back door.
Whitney entered.
Then she saw him.
An elderly Black man stood near the front window.
His hair was almost completely gray.
He held a cane.
His face was thinner than Whitney expected.
But his eyes—
She knew those eyes.
The man took a step forward.
“Whitney.”
Her throat tightened.
“How do you know my name?”
“I've known your name since the day you were born.”
“Who are you?”
The man swallowed.
“My name is David Sawyer.”
Whitney nearly collapsed.
“You're my father.”
David nodded.
“Yes.”
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then anger replaced shock.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You've been alive this entire time.”
“Yes.”
“And you never came back.”
“I couldn't.”
“My grandmother told me you were dead.”
“I know.”
“She cried when she talked about you.”
David closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“You let her believe you were dead?”
“I had to.”
“You had to?”
“If I came back, you would have died.”
Whitney froze.
“The people who killed Li Wei were looking for me.”
“Why?”
“Because I had the ledger.”
Whitney showed him the metal box.
“That isn't the ledger.”
“No.”
“But it belonged to your grandmother.”
David looked through the documents.
“She kept everything.”
“She wanted me to know.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“She wanted you to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Whether to expose the truth.”
Whitney couldn't understand.
“Why wouldn't I?”
David smiled sadly.
“Because truth doesn't only destroy guilty people.”
“It destroys everyone standing near them.”
Victor stepped forward.
“David.”
David looked at him.
“You brought her.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know what happens next.”
Whitney turned toward them.
“What happens next?”
David opened an old desk drawer.
Inside was the leather ledger.
The original.
Whitney stared.
“The ledger.”
David nodded.
“This contains payments.”
“To whom?”
“Police officers. Lawyers. Judges. Politicians.”
Whitney's stomach turned.
“And witnesses.”
“Witnesses?”
“People were paid to disappear.”
“How many?”
“Twenty-three.”
“And Li Wei?”
David looked away.
“Number twenty-four.”
Whitney opened the ledger.
The pages were filled with dates, amounts, initials, and locations.
Then she saw an entry.
October 14 — Li Wei — $0 — refused payment.
“Why zero?”
“Because he refused the money.”
“Who offered it?”
David hesitated.
“Gerald.”