Chapter 5 - Petra's Secret
Declan had assumed Petra was Cersa's sister.
He was wrong.
Petra Van was her mother.
And she knew everything.
They found her at an isolated house outside the city.
When Cersa stepped through the doorway, Petra embraced her without saying anything.
Then she saw Declan.
Her face went pale.
“You look like your father.”
Declan stopped.
“You knew him?”
Petra laughed bitterly.
“I knew all of them.”
Twenty years earlier, Cersa's father and Declan's father had discovered Patrick's first financial scheme.
They planned to expose him.
Neither man survived long enough to do it.
One death was called an accident.
The other became part of New Orleans underworld mythology.
But Petra had never believed either explanation.
She had kept copies of everything.
Names.
Dates.
Companies.
Payments.
Cersa's recent discovery had accidentally reopened the same trail.
Patrick had spent twenty years burying the truth.
Now the children of the two men he had betrayed had found each other.
Declan looked toward Cersa.
Maybe their meeting had never been coincidence.
Petra retrieved the real drive.
But she also brought out something else.
A sealed letter.
“This belonged to your father,” she told Declan.
His hands remained at his sides.
“Why do you have it?”
“Because he gave it to my husband.”
Declan opened it.
The message inside was short.
His father had known Patrick was stealing.
He had also suspected that someone else was helping him.
Someone inside the family.
But he never discovered who.
Until the night before his death.
One name appeared at the bottom of the letter.
Liam.
Declan stared at it.
“That isn't possible.”
Cersa approached.
“How old was Liam?”
“Eleven.”
Exactly.
An eleven-year-old couldn't have built the conspiracy.
Which meant the name referred to something else.
Petra suddenly remembered.
“Not a person.”
Everyone turned.
“L.I.A.M.”
She explained that Cersa's father used abbreviations for projects.
They searched the old documents.
Finally Cersa found it.
L.I.A.M.
Louisiana Infrastructure Asset Management.
A shell corporation.
And according to the documents, its current director was Patrick Maher.
Declan almost laughed.
Twenty years.
Patrick had hidden the answer beneath the name of Declan's own brother.
Then Remy's phone rang.
He listened.
His face changed.
“What happened?” Declan asked.
Remy lowered the phone.
“Liam's been found.”
“Where?”
“Your office.”
Declan frowned.
Remy continued.
“He's waiting for you.”
“Why?”
Remy looked toward Cersa.
“Because he says Patrick isn't the person behind this.”
Silence.
“Then who is?”
Remy swallowed.
“He says he'll tell you in person.”
Declan grabbed his coat.
May you like
But before they left, Remy added one final sentence.
“He also says Patrick has been trying to protect you.”
