Chapter 6 - The Secret Ledger
Back at the Winnetka estate, the afternoon sun cast long shadows across the oak-paneled library where Marcus had set up a temporary intelligence station.
I was rocking Lily to sleep in the quiet corner when Marcus walked in carrying a heavy, dust-covered leather ledger.
"What's that?" I asked quietly, not wanting to wake Lily.
"Found this in Caleb’s old apartment downtown," Marcus said, placing the ledger on the heavy oak desk. "Ethan had me secure the lease before the landlord cleared it out. Most of the place was stripped clean years ago, but this was hidden behind the floorboards in the bedroom closet."
I carefully transferred a sleeping Lily to her portable bassinet and walked over to the desk. "Open it."
Marcus flipped the cover open. Inside were pages and pages of meticulous, handwritten financial calculations, bank routing numbers, and corporate codes. But what caught my eye were the margin notes scrawled in Caleb’s messy, familiar handwriting.
“Sterling is laundering capital through the downtown import-export subsidiary. If Ethan finds out, the board will implode. I have to get out before they pin it on me.”
My breath hitched. "He wasn't running from Ethan," I whispered, reading the words aloud. "He was running from Sterling. Sterling framed him for corporate embezzlement to force Ethan into submission."
"Exactly," Marcus said grimly. "Caleb discovered Sterling’s illegal laundering ring. Sterling gave him a choice: fake your own death and disappear forever, or watch your entire family destroyed by a federal indictment."
A cold rage washed over me. All those months of crying myself to sleep, believing the man I loved had willingly abandoned me and our unborn child—it was all a lie manufactured by a monster in a tailored suit.
Before Marcus could reply, the heavy front doors of the estate slammed open. Heavy, hurried footsteps echoed down the grand hallway.
Ethan burst into the library, his tie loosened, his face pale and breathing heavily, holding his ringing cell phone like it was a live grenade.
"Boss, what is it?" Marcus demanded, instantly standing up.
May you like
Ethan looked at me, his stormy grey eyes wide with a terror I had never, in all my days working for him, ever witnessed.
"That was an encrypted burner call," Ethan said, his voice shaking. "They have Caleb."
