Then Gerald's voice.
“He's dead.”
Whitney closed her eyes.
But the recording wasn't finished.
A door opened.
Another man entered.
Gerald said:
“You came.”
The stranger answered:
“You said the ledger was secure.”
Whitney's blood ran cold.
She knew the voice.
Victor.
Gerald continued:
“Victor, take care of the body.”
Victor's recorded voice answered:
“What about Evelyn?”
Gerald replied:
“She knows too much.”
The recording ended.
Whitney slowly turned toward Victor.
“You were there.”
Victor's face was white.
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“I didn't kill him.”
“But you were there.”
“Yes.”
“You helped Gerald.”
“I thought I was protecting Evelyn.”
“You helped him hide the body.”
Victor's voice broke.
“I didn't know he was going to kill Li Wei.”
“You heard the gunshot.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed.”
“I was twenty-eight.”
“That doesn't excuse it.”
“I know.”
Whitney stepped back.
Everything she had believed about Victor had collapsed.
Then Claire suddenly looked toward the passage.
“They're here.”
A loud bang echoed.
Victor moved toward the entrance.
“Get her out.”
David shook his head.
“No.”
Claire grabbed Whitney's hand.
“There's another exit.”
They ran.
Victor stayed behind.
Whitney looked back.
He stood between them and the passage.
For the first time, there was no arrogance in his face.
Only regret.
“Your grandmother was right,” he said.
Whitney froze.
“About what?”
“You should never have trusted me.”
A gunshot echoed.
Victor fell.
Whitney screamed.
“Victor!”
Claire dragged her through a hidden doorway.
Behind them, David shouted:
“Keep moving!”
They ran deeper into the darkness.
Then Gerald appeared.
He held a gun.
He looked directly at Whitney.
And smiled.
“Now we can finally talk about your father.”
Whitney stopped.
Gerald raised his voice.
“Your mother was alive when Li Wei died!”
Whitney froze.
Her mother.
The woman she had believed died when she was six.
The woman whose face existed only in fragments of memory.
Gerald smiled.
“And your grandmother lied about that too.”
Whitney turned slowly.
“Where is my mother?”
Gerald stood in the tunnel with the gun lowered slightly.
Claire was beside Whitney.
“Don't listen to him,” Claire whispered.
Gerald laughed.
“You've been lying to her for thirty years, Claire.”
“I was protecting her.”
“So was I.”
Whitney stared at him.
“You tried to kill me.”
“I tried to stop you from exposing something that would destroy you.”
“You mean expose yourself.”
Gerald's expression hardened.
“Your mother knew too much.”
“What was her name?”
He hesitated.
“Sarah.”
Whitney's heart stopped.
Sarah Sawyer.
Her mother.
Alive when Li Wei died.
“Where is she?”
Gerald looked at Claire.
“Tell her.”
Claire shook her head.
Gerald raised the gun.
“Tell her.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“She disappeared the night Li Wei died.”
“What happened?”
“Sarah had discovered the financial records.”
Whitney looked toward David.
“Dad?”
David emerged from the darkness.
He was injured, but alive.
“I loved your mother.”
Whitney's eyes filled with tears.
“Then why did everyone tell me she was dead?”
“Because we thought she was.”
Gerald laughed.
“You didn't.”
David glared at him.
“You knew.”
“I knew she survived the attack.”
Whitney turned toward Gerald.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
Gerald lowered the gun.
“I knew she survived. After that, she disappeared.”
Claire stepped forward.
“You know where she went.”
Gerald looked at her.
“I know where she was taken.”
Whitney's breath caught.
“Taken by whom?”
David answered.
“Li Wei.”
Whitney stared.
“What?”
“Li Wei had arranged for Sarah to leave the country.”
Claire nodded.
“He knew the attack was coming.”
“Then why did he stay?”
“Because he wanted to protect the investors.”
Whitney struggled to understand.
“So my mother escaped?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Hong Kong.”
Whitney covered her mouth.
“She lived?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“We don't know.”
Gerald smiled cruelly.
“Your family built a life around lies.”
Whitney shook her head.
“No.”
She stepped forward.
“My family survived.”
Gerald's expression changed.
“My grandmother survived.”
“My father survived.”
“My mother survived.”
She raised the ledger.
“And Li Wei's truth survived.”
Gerald stared at her.
“You think that makes you powerful?”
“No.”
Whitney looked at the gun.
“I think it makes you afraid.”
Sirens sounded above them.
Claire smiled faintly.
“You're surrounded.”
Gerald looked around.
“How?”
“Victor.”
Whitney's heart tightened.
“Victor?”
Claire nodded.
“He wasn't dead.”
A moment later, Victor appeared at the far end of the passage.
His shirt was torn.
Blood covered his shoulder.
But he was walking.
Whitney stared.
“You're alive.”
“Barely.”
Gerald looked furious.
“You should have stayed down.”
Victor raised a hand.
“I'm harder to kill than you think.”
Police officers entered behind him.
Gerald slowly lowered his weapon.
The gun fell to the floor.
He raised his hands.
“This isn't over.”
Victor looked at him.
“Yes, it is.”
Gerald was arrested.
The ledger was secured.
The recordings were taken into evidence.
For the first time in thirty years, the truth about Li Wei's death was no longer buried.
But Whitney had one question left.
Her mother.
Six months later, Whitney stood inside a small apartment overlooking Victoria Harbour.
She held an old photograph.
Sarah Sawyer smiled from it.
Alive.
Very much alive.
Whitney had found her through records recovered from the ledger.
Sarah had lived quietly for decades under another name.
She had never remarried.
She had never forgotten Whitney.
Their first meeting had been almost unbearable.
Neither woman knew what to say.
Then Sarah cried.
Whitney cried too.
They talked for hours.
About Evelyn.
About David.
About Li Wei.