Chapter 5 - THE EMPTY LEDGER
“Let him go!” Nora screamed, lunging forward.
Marcus leveled his gun directly at Nora’s chest. The laser sight settled over her heart.
“Ah-ah,” Vivienne clicked her tongue, her grip tightening on Leo’s shirt. The little boy was crying silently, his eyes wide with terror as he reached out for his sister. “Manners, Nora. We are guests in Mr. Blackwood’s vault.”
Adrian stepped in front of Nora, shielding her with his body. He pressed his hand against his bleeding side, his posture still radiating authority despite the injury.
“You have the vault, Vivienne,” Adrian said, his voice deadly calm. “You proved your point. Let the boy go. He’s innocent.”
“Innocent?” Vivienne laughed, a sharp, ugly sound. “No one in this room is innocent, Adrian. Especially not her.”
Vivienne nodded to Marcus.
Marcus didn’t lower his gun, but he used his free hand to reach into his coat. He pulled out a yellowed, manila envelope and tossed it onto the floor between them.
“Go ahead, Adrian. Tell her,” Vivienne sneered. “Tell her why her father really locked this vault.”
Adrian didn’t move. His jaw was clenched so tight the muscles twitched.
“Adrian?” Nora asked, her voice shaking. She looked at the envelope on the floor.
When Adrian wouldn’t speak, Nora slowly knelt and picked it up. She pulled the flap open.
Inside wasn’t a ledger. It wasn’t financial documents.
It was a stack of photographs and a birth certificate.
Nora looked at the first photo. It was her mother. But she wasn’t wearing the cheap clothes Nora remembered. She was wearing a stunning, custom-made gown, standing on the balcony of the Vesper Crown.
And standing next to her, with his arm wrapped around her waist, was Adrian’s father. Richard Blackwood.
Nora’s breath hitched. She pulled out the birth certificate.
Name: Eleanora Hayes.
Mother: Sarah Hayes.
Father: Richard Blackwood.
The paper slipped from Nora’s fingers, fluttering to the cold concrete floor.
“No,” Nora whispered. She backed away, staring at Adrian. “No. Arthur was my father.”
“Arthur was a good man who loved your mother,” Vivienne said, her voice dripping with cruel satisfaction. “When Richard Blackwood forced himself on her, Arthur stepped up. He raised you as his own. But you, Nora... you are Richard Blackwood’s firstborn child. The rightful heir to the Meridian trust.”
The room spun. Nora felt like she was drowning.
The billionaire standing next to her wasn’t just her employer. He was her half-brother.
“Is it true?” Nora turned to Adrian, her voice breaking.
Adrian looked at her, his eyes filled with profound sorrow. “I only found out six months ago. I swear to you, Nora. I was trying to find a way to tell you. I was drafting the papers to give you your half of the company.”
“Oh, how touching,” Vivienne mocked. “But unfortunately, the Laurent family has no intention of splitting this empire with a waitress. The merger requires full consolidation.”
Vivienne pulled a small, silver lighter from her clutch.
“The real ledger—the one that proves my family’s crimes—isn’t in this vault,” Vivienne smiled. “It never was. Arthur destroyed it to protect you. The only thing left in this vault that threatens my family... is you, Nora.”
Vivienne dropped the lighter onto a pile of old bearer bonds sitting near the entrance. The dry paper instantly caught fire, the flames leaping up toward the walls.
“Marcus,” Vivienne ordered. “Lock them in.”
“No!” Adrian roared.
He lunged forward, not at Marcus, but at Leo. With terrifying speed, Adrian grabbed the little boy’s arm, ripping him out of Vivienne’s grasp, and threw him behind himself into the vault.
Marcus fired.
The bullet struck Adrian in the shoulder, spinning him around. He hit the floor hard, blood pooling instantly on the polished concrete.
“Adrian!” Nora screamed.
Marcus grabbed the heavy titanium door and began to swing it shut.
“Enjoy your inheritance, Nora,” Vivienne smiled through the narrowing gap.
With a deafening BOOM, the vault door slammed shut. The locking mechanisms engaged with a heavy, final click.
They were trapped.
Inside the vault, the fire from the bonds was spreading to the wooden safety deposit boxes. Smoke began to fill the airtight room.
Nora rushed to Adrian, pressing her hands against his bleeding shoulder.
“Leo, stay back!” Nora coughed, shielding her brother from the growing flames.
Adrian groaned, coughing up a speck of blood. He looked up at the ceiling of the vault, where the smoke was gathering thick and fast.
“Nora,” Adrian gasped, gripping her wrist with surprising strength. “Vivienne is wrong. Arthur didn’t destroy the evidence.”
Nora stared at him, tears streaming through the soot on her face. “What are you talking about?”
Adrian reached into his pocket with a trembling hand.
He pulled out the old silver spoon.
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“Arthur told me before he disappeared,” Adrian whispered, his eyes locking onto hers. “He said, ‘The truth is always under the surface.’”
With a sickening crack, Adrian snapped the handle of the silver spoon in half.
