Chapter 5 - THE MAN BEHIND THE LEDGER
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The rain continued against the hospital windows.
Nia looked at the paper again.
The words were unmistakable.
Second pregnancy — prevent at all costs.
Her first thought was the slap.
Her second was the miscarriage.
Her third was the baby inside her now.
She looked at Adrian.
“Did your father know about me?”
“No.”
“Did Richard?”
“I don't know.”
“Then find out.”
Adrian nodded.
This time he didn't argue.
He turned to Marcus.
“Get the C-17 key.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Sir, the unit is no longer registered under the company.”
“Who owns it?”
“A holding company.”
“Name?”
Marcus looked at the file.
“Vale Harbor Storage.”
Erin's face changed.
“My father.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You said you didn't know where he was.”
“I don't.”
“But he owns the storage company.”
“He did.”
Marcus checked the records.
“Ownership transferred eleven years ago.”
“To whom?”
Marcus looked up.
“Richard Cole.”
Silence.
Nia closed her eyes.
Everything led back to him.
But she refused to let the story become simple.
“Why would Richard care about my pregnancies?”
Adrian answered quietly.
“Because of inheritance.”
Nia looked at him.
“What inheritance?”
“My father's estate.”
“I thought you inherited everything.”
“Most of it.”
He sat beside her.
“There was one condition.”
“What?”
“If I had a child, a portion of the original family holdings would transfer outside my control.”
Nia stared at him.
“How much?”
“Enough to destroy Richard's leverage.”
Erin suddenly spoke.
“He doesn't want the money.”
Everyone turned.
“He wants the names.”
“What names?” Nia asked.
“People who helped your father.”
Adrian looked at the old bracelet in his hand.
“The ledger.”
Erin nodded.
“The ledger contains everything.”
Nia understood.
“Richard wants the ledger.”
“And the child gives him leverage over you,” Erin said.
Adrian looked at Nia.
That was the first time she saw something new in his eyes.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for her.
A few hours later, they arrived at the storage facility under heavy rain.
The building sat near the harbor behind a row of warehouses.
Adrian held the brass key.
C-17 was at the end of a narrow corridor.
He inserted the key.
The lock opened.
Inside was not money.
Not weapons.
Not anything dramatic.
There were boxes.
Dozens of them.
Old financial records.
Photographs.
Letters.
Cassette tapes.
A coat hanging from a metal hook.
Nia stared at it.
The coat was brown wool.
Old.
Worn.
On the inside collar was stitched a name.
T. VALE.
Erin covered her mouth.
“My father.”
She reached for it.
A small envelope fell from the pocket.
Nia picked it up.
Inside was a photograph.
A young Thomas Vale stood beside Adrian's father.
Behind them was a third man.
Richard.
But that wasn't what made Nia freeze.
A young woman stood beside them.
She looked almost exactly like Erin.
Erin whispered,
“That's my mother.”
Adrian looked at the photograph.
“Your mother died before you were born.”
“Yes.”
“Then why was she here?”
Erin turned the photograph over.
A handwritten sentence appeared.
She knows what happened to Nia.
Nia's heart raced.
“What happened to me?”
Erin shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Adrian opened another box.
Inside were medical records.
Nia saw her own name.
Her first pregnancy.
Her second.
Her hospital visits.
Even the medications she had been prescribed.
Someone had been tracking every detail.
Adrian's face hardened.
“This isn't Richard.”
“How do you know?” Nia asked.
“Because Richard didn't have access to your medical records.”
Marcus looked at the documents.
“Someone inside the hospital did.”
Nia felt sick.
A hospital employee.
Someone who had seen her pregnancies.
Someone who had known about her miscarriages.
Someone who knew about the current baby.
Then Erin pulled out another file.
“This.”
Adrian opened it.
It contained an old security report.
The date was the night of Nia's first miscarriage.
At the bottom was a signature.
Dr. Melissa Grant.
Nia stared at the page.
Her doctor.
The woman who had just told her the current pregnancy looked healthy.
“No,” Nia whispered.
Adrian immediately shook his head.
“Don't assume.”
But Nia couldn't stop looking at the signature.
“Why would my doctor be in your father's records?”
They returned to the hospital.
Dr. Grant was waiting.
When she saw the file, her face went pale.
“I wondered when you would find it.”
Nia stopped.
“What is this?”
Dr. Grant closed the office door.
“I was twenty-nine when I first met your husband.”
“You treated me during my first pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew my husband's family.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dr. Grant sat down.
“Because your husband asked me to help you.”
Nia's heart sank.
“Help me do what?”
“Stay alive.”
Nia stared at her.
Dr. Grant continued.
“Your first pregnancy wasn't terminated because of Adrian.”
Nia felt tears burn her eyes.
“What happened?”
“You were given something.”
“By whom?”
Dr. Grant hesitated.
“I don't know.”
“But you signed this report.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was threatened.”
“By Richard?”
“No.”
Dr. Grant looked at Adrian.
“By your father.”
Adrian went completely still.
“My father was dead by then.”
“I know.”
“Then who threatened you?”
Dr. Grant opened a drawer.
Inside was an old hospital security photograph.
A younger Adrian stood in a hallway.
Beside him was a man wearing a dark suit.
Adrian stared.
He recognized him immediately.
His father's former security chief.
Walter Crane.
Walter had died eight years earlier.
But the photograph had a date from three months ago.
Nia looked at Adrian.
“That's impossible.”
Adrian slowly shook his head.
“No.”
He turned the photograph over.
A note was written on the back.
Walter Crane is alive.
May you like
Then another line.
And he has been inside your home.
