Chapter 3 - The Secret Their Father Left Behind
Diane reached Sadi’s school in twelve minutes.
Ravi’s driver probably broke every traffic law in Manhattan getting them there, but Diane didn’t care.
She was out of the car before it fully stopped.
“Sadi!”
Her sister ran from the school office.
Diane dropped to her knees and wrapped both arms around her.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Did that man touch you?”
“What man?”
“The man who came for you.”
Sadi frowned.
“I never saw him.”
Relief nearly brought Diane to tears.
Ravi remained several feet away, giving them space.
Sadi noticed him.
“Who’s that?”
Diane looked back.
“That’s... complicated.”
Ravi almost smiled.
Sadi whispered, “Is he your boyfriend?”
“No!”
Ravi actually did smile then.
Despite everything, Sadi giggled.
For one second, Diane remembered what normal felt like.
Then she remembered the photograph.
They took Sadi somewhere secure while Ravi’s people reviewed security footage from the school.
Victor Dane had been there.
No question.
But why did he believe Sadi knew something?
That evening, Diane sat with her sister inside a guest suite at Ravi’s penthouse.
She hated accepting his protection.
She hated needing it more.
“Sadi,” Diane said gently, “did Dad ever give you anything before he died?”
Sadi thought.
“Lots of things.”
“Something important.”
Another pause.
Then her eyes changed.
“What?”
Sadi climbed from the couch.
“Wait.”
She opened her school backpack and removed a small stuffed rabbit.
Diane recognized it immediately.
Their father had bought it for Sadi when she was five.
Sadi turned the rabbit over.
“There’s something inside.”
Diane stared.
“What?”
“Dad put it there.”
“When?”
“The night before the accident.”
Diane’s heart stopped.
Sadi found a tiny seam beneath the rabbit’s ear.
“I forgot until now.”
She pulled out a small brass key.
Diane stared at it.
Ravi entered the room.
“What is that?”
“My father gave it to Sadi.”
Ravi examined the key.
A number was engraved on it.
317.
“Safe-deposit box,” he said.
The next morning they discovered which bank.
Thomas Harper had rented box 317 three days before his death.
The bank manager reluctantly opened it after Diane provided documentation establishing herself as executor of her father’s estate.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a letter.
Diane recognized her father’s handwriting.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Diane,
If you are reading this, then I failed to keep this away from you. I’m sorry.
She stopped.
Ravi waited silently.
Diane continued.
Her father explained everything.
He had discovered hidden accounts inside the financial company where he worked.
At first, he believed Ravi Greedy was responsible.
Then he discovered someone was stealing from Ravi while using Ravi’s organization as camouflage.
Victor Dane.
But Victor was not working alone.
Thomas had collected records proving Victor had partners among respected business leaders.
One name was deliberately missing from the letter.
Instead, Thomas wrote:
The identity of the person financing Victor is on the drive. Trust evidence, not appearances.
Diane inserted the drive into an offline laptop.
Folders appeared.
Transactions.
Names.
Dates.
Photographs.
Then Diane opened the final file.
She froze.
Catherine Voss.
“No,” Diane whispered.
Ravi leaned closer.
The documents showed payments from a Voss family holding company to Victor.
Millions of dollars.
But Catherine had been barely involved in the family business two years ago.
Ravi shook his head.
“This isn’t Catherine.”
“What?”
“These transfers were authorized by her father.”
“Edmund Voss?”
Ravi nodded.
One of the most respected philanthropists in New York.
A man whose charitable foundation had helped organize the ball where Diane had kissed Ravi.
Diane felt sick.
“So Catherine’s father was behind this?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly? The evidence is right there.”
“It proves money moved through his company. It doesn’t prove he ordered your parents killed.”
Diane hated his caution.
But she knew he was right.
Then they found an audio file.
Thomas Harper’s voice filled the room.
“If anyone finds this, Victor knows I discovered the accounts. I believe Edmund Voss knows what Victor is doing. I don’t know whether Edmund authorized it. I’m meeting Ravi tomorrow because he may be the only man powerful enough to stop Victor.”
Diane closed her eyes.
Her father’s voice.
Two years after his death.
She covered her mouth.
Ravi quietly stopped the recording.
“I’m sorry.”
Diane wiped her eyes.
“No. Play it.”
The recording continued.
Thomas described an insurance policy.
Evidence copied to three locations.
The safe-deposit box was only one.
The second had been sent to a federal investigator.
The third—
The recording suddenly cut off.
“That’s it?” Diane asked.
Ravi checked.
“Corrupted file.”
“No.”
She tried again.
Nothing.
Sadi appeared in the doorway.
“Was that Dad?”
Diane turned.
Sadi’s eyes filled with tears.
Diane opened her arms.
Sadi ran into them.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Later, after Sadi fell asleep, Diane stood on Ravi’s terrace overlooking Manhattan.
He joined her.
“You knew my father better than I did during his last weeks.”
“No.”
“You knew he was afraid.”
“Yes.”
“You knew he was investigating something.”
“Yes.”
“And I knew nothing.”
“He wanted it that way.”
“That doesn’t make it hurt less.”
Ravi looked toward the skyline.
“No.”
Diane studied him.
“Why did my father trust you?”
Ravi remained silent.
“Tell me.”
“Because once, years earlier, Thomas found evidence that one of my own men planned to betray me.”
“He warned you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed allowing someone to die when he could prevent it would make him responsible.”
Diane smiled sadly.
“That sounds like Dad.”
“He was a good man.”
“And you?”
Ravi looked at her.
“What about me?”
“Are you a good man?”
A long pause.
“No.”
The answer surprised her.
“I’ve done things your father would never approve of.”
“Then why help us?”
“Because I made him a promise.”
“Only because of a promise?”
Ravi looked away.
Diane noticed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Before he could answer, his phone rang.
His expression hardened as he listened.
“What happened?”
He ended the call.
“Catherine Voss is downstairs.”
Diane stared.
“Here?”
“She came alone.”
“Why?”
Ravi’s voice lowered.
“She says Victor is going to kill her father tonight.”
Twenty minutes later, Catherine sat across from Diane.
Gone was the arrogant woman from the ballroom.
Her face was pale.
Her hands shook.
“I didn’t know who you were,” Catherine said.
Diane laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I swear.”
“You offered me money to humiliate him.”
“Yes.”
“Victor told you to choose me.”
Catherine’s eyes widened.
Diane had guessed correctly.
“He said you were desperate,” Catherine whispered. “He told me you’d do it.”
“Why?”
“I thought he was helping me embarrass Ravi.”
Ravi stood behind Diane.
“And what did Victor want?”
Catherine swallowed.
“He wanted you two to meet.”
Diane’s stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Catherine looked at Ravi.
“But my father does.”
She removed a phone from her purse.
“My father called me an hour ago.”
She played a voicemail.
Edmund Voss’s frightened voice filled the room.
“Catherine, listen carefully. Victor knows Thomas Harper left evidence. I helped Thomas hide it. That’s why Victor has kept me under control for two years. If Diane Harper has found Ravi, then Victor knows the evidence may surface. Do not trust anyone around you.”
The recording crackled.
Then Edmund said something that made Ravi go rigid.
“Especially not Ravi’s brother.”
The message ended.
Diane looked at Ravi.
“You have a brother?”
Ravi didn’t answer.
Catherine whispered, “Who is he?”
Ravi’s expression had become colder than Diane had ever seen it.
“My younger brother is Adrian.”
“Where is he?”
Ravi slowly looked toward the closed study door.
“He’s been living in Europe for three years.”
Diane noticed something on Ravi’s desk.
A framed photograph.
Two young men standing beside each other.
One was Ravi.
The other—
Diane walked closer.
Her breath stopped.
She had seen Adrian before.
Not at the charity ball.
Earlier.
Much earlier.
Two years ago.
Standing across the street from the courthouse after her parents’ accident hearing.
Watching her.
And suddenly Diane remembered something else.
The night her parents died, her father had called her.
Diane had missed the call.
But he had left a voicemail she had never been able to understand because of static.
There had been one clear sentence at the end.
For two years, Diane had believed he said:
“Tell Ravi.”
Now she remembered the exact sound.
He hadn’t said Ravi.
He had said:
May you like
“Don’t trust Ravi.”
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