Chapter 6 - Six Hundred Thousand Lies
The storage locker was empty.
At least, it appeared empty.
Norah stood beneath the flickering light while Leo searched the walls.
"Someone beat us."
"No."
She pointed upward.
A ceiling panel sat crooked.
Inside was a waterproof envelope.
Evelyn's evidence remained untouched.
Bank records.
Photographs.
A cassette tape.
And one handwritten ledger.
Leo opened it.
His expression changed.
Arthur's theft was bigger than six hundred thousand dollars.
Much bigger.
For decades, Arthur had skimmed money from anyone he could deceive.
But one name appeared repeatedly.
Russo.
Leo went still.
Dates stretched back twenty years.
Long before Leo controlled the organization.
His father had been alive then.
Arthur had been stealing from the Russo family for decades.
The current debt was only the latest piece.
Then Norah found another entry.
E. Russo — 250,000.
"Who's E. Russo?"
Leo took the ledger.
His face hardened.
"My mother."
Norah stared.
Leo's mother had died when he was nineteen.
Officially, she had lost money in a failed investment shortly before her death.
Arthur had been involved.
Suddenly the histories of two families collided.
Evelyn Vale had discovered Arthur was stealing from Elena Russo.
Arthur silenced his wife.
Leo's mother lost the money.
Years later, Arthur returned to the same organization and began stealing again.
Norah whispered, "Our mothers knew each other."
Leo nodded.
The cassette proved it.
Evelyn's recorded voice filled the storage room.
She described Arthur's scheme.
She named accounts.
Then came the sentence that silenced them both.
"If Arthur finds out I spoke to Elena Russo, I believe he will kill me."
Norah covered her mouth.
Leo stopped the tape.
Neither spoke.
This was no longer about money.
It had never been.
Arthur Vale had spent seventeen years believing fire had erased the truth.
Now his daughter held it in her hands.
And outside the storage facility, a gunshot shattered the window.
Leo threw Norah to the floor.
Glass exploded above them.
Marco shouted.
Men moved.
Norah pressed herself against the concrete.
Leo covered her with his body until the danger passed.
When he finally looked down, Norah wasn't crying.
She was staring at him.
"You came back for me."
Leo frowned.
"Of course."
May you like
Her expression broke his heart.
Because no one had ever made "of course" true for her before.
