Chapter 4 - The Daughter Behind the Desk
For three years, Odessa had sat outside Anton Kazarian’s office.
If Stefan was telling the truth, she had not merely been working for Anton.
She had been working inside her own family's company.
Anton stared at his brother.
“That would make Odessa—”
“Our half-sister,” Stefan finished.
Odessa stood so quickly her chair scraped backward.
“No.”
She could tolerate many things.
Her mother disappearing.
A fake recruiting agency.
A resurrected brother.
But this?
“No.”
Stefan remained calm.
“Lorraine became pregnant when she was twenty-four. Father was married to our mother.”
Odessa looked at Anton.
He appeared physically ill.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“All these years?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he tell us?”
“Because Grandfather threatened Lorraine.”
Stefan explained.
Aram had inherited more than a freight company.
He had inherited enemies, debts, alliances, and an organization built on secrets.
An illegitimate daughter would have become leverage.
So Lorraine disappeared from the Kazarian world.
Aram quietly supported Odessa from a distance.
After his death, Stefan continued watching.
Odessa felt anger rising.
“You watched me?”
“To keep you safe.”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
She stepped toward him.
“My mother watched me. You watched me. Apparently my father watched me. Did anyone consider speaking to me?”
Stefan had no answer.
Anton did.
“You're right.”
She turned.
His voice was low.
“They took your choices.”
Something inside Odessa softened.
Only slightly.
Then another thought occurred.
“My job.”
Stefan looked uncomfortable.
“You arranged it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because something inside Kazarian Freight was changing. Money was disappearing. People loyal to Father were being removed.”
“So you put me beside Anton?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you're like Lorraine.”
Odessa laughed bitterly.
“You didn't know me.”
“I knew enough.”
“You turned me into a spy without telling me.”
“No. I put the best person I knew near the one man I trusted.”
Anton looked at Stefan.
“You trusted me so much you stayed dead for eleven years?”
“That wasn't about trust.”
“Then what?”
Stefan hesitated.
“Mercer isn't behind this.”
“Who is?”
“Priscilla Vance.”
Odessa nearly laughed.
“Priscilla?”
“The annoying junior employee?”
Stefan shook his head.
“Priscilla Vance is not twenty-four.”
Anton immediately called Lev.
“Find Vance.”
Five minutes later, Lev called back.
Her apartment was empty.
Her personnel file was false.
Her university had no record of her.
And the photograph attached to her application belonged to a woman who died six years earlier.
Odessa sat slowly.
“She brought me the Rotterdam documents.”
“Yes,” Anton said.
“She wanted me to find the discrepancy.”
“Or wanted to know whether you would.”
The realization was worse.
Priscilla had spent six months insulting Odessa.
Testing her.
Provoking her.
Watching her.
That evening, Odessa returned to the office.
She wanted her belongings.
Anton found her packing.
“You're leaving.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked at him incredulously.
“Yesterday I was your secretary. Today I'm apparently your sister.”
Anton flinched.
Odessa immediately regretted the cruelty.
But she continued.
“I can't sit outside that office tomorrow pretending everything is normal.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“What are you asking?”
Anton approached.
“I don't know.”
For the first time, Odessa saw Anton Kazarian without an answer.
He looked almost lost.
She remembered the previous evening.
The dress.
The question.
The tension between them.
Now it felt humiliating.
Anton seemed to understand exactly where her thoughts had gone.
“About last night—”
“Don't.”
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
“I would never—”
“I know.”
Silence.
Odessa looked down.
“I liked that you noticed me.”
Anton said nothing.
“That is the worst part.”
“Odessa.”
“For one minute, I thought somebody finally saw me.”
He moved closer.
“I did see you.”
She looked up.
“Before I knew any of this.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
“No.”
He exhaled.
“But don't rewrite the truth because the truth became inconvenient.”
She frowned.
“What truth?”
“That dress didn't make me notice you.”
Anton’s voice softened.
“It made me realize how long I already had.”
Odessa's breath caught.
Before either could say more, the office lights died.
Darkness.
Anton immediately moved between Odessa and the door.
Emergency lights flickered red.
A woman's voice came through the intercom.
“Still protecting her, Anton?”
Priscilla.
Anton looked toward the ceiling.
“Vance.”
“Hello.”
Odessa's blood ran cold.
Priscilla laughed softly.
“You finally figured out the family secret.”
“What do you want?” Anton asked.
“The same thing your father stole from mine.”
“Which is?”
“Everything.”
A monitor on Anton's wall illuminated.
A video appeared.
Lorraine Calloway sat in a chair.
Alive.
Older.
Terrified.
Odessa stepped forward.
“Mom.”
Lorraine looked directly into the camera.
“Odessa, listen to me.”
The image shook.
“Do not give them the ledger.”
Odessa turned toward Anton.
“What ledger?”
Anton didn't know.
Priscilla's voice returned.
“Midnight. Pier seventeen.”
The screen went black.
Then another message appeared.
BRING ODESSA.
Anton’s expression became deadly calm.
“No.”
Odessa looked at him.
“She's my mother.”
“And that's exactly why you're not going.”
Odessa reached into her handbag.
Her fingers touched something.
A small envelope she had found inside her desk drawer while packing.
She had assumed it was an old receipt.
Now she opened it.
Inside was a brass key.
And a note written in handwriting she recognized from childhood birthday cards.
Her mother's.
Odessa read the message.
Her heart stopped.
THE LEDGER IS WHERE ARAM FIRST SAW YOU.
Anton looked over her shoulder.
“When did my father first see you?”
Odessa stared at the key.
“I don't know.”
Then she remembered something her grandmother had told her years ago.
A story about being taken as a baby to a railway station.
And a stranger who cried when he saw her.
May you like
Odessa looked at Anton.
“I think I know where your father hid the ledger.”
