Chapter 4 - THE LEDGER
Roman took Norah to a secured apartment overlooking the harbor.
She refused to sit until every exit had been checked.
Tommy noticed.
Roman noticed everything.
The apartment was modern but deliberately sparse. No family photographs. No expensive decorations. No objects that could be used as weapons.
Norah stood near the window.
“Why am I here?”
“Because someone is following you.”
“People have been following me for three years.”
Roman went still.
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“Don’t.”
“Norah.”
“You don’t get to come back into my life and demand answers.”
“I’m not demanding.”
“Then why am I locked inside your apartment?”
“The door isn’t locked.”
She tried the handle.
It opened.
Norah stared at him.
Roman stepped aside.
“You can leave.”
She looked toward the hallway.
Then at the dark windows.
“You know I can’t.”
“Why?”
Her eyes hardened.
“Because you know exactly why.”
Roman’s hands tightened on the arms of his chair.
He hated that she was right.
“Tell me about the ledger.”
Norah looked away.
“I don’t have it.”
“Who thinks you do?”
“The people who have been hunting me.”
“Names.”
“I don’t know their names.”
“Norah, I can protect you.”
She laughed quietly.
“You said that before.”
“I failed you before.”
The admission made her turn.
Roman continued, “I won’t pretend otherwise.”
For a moment, her anger faltered.
Then she looked toward the table.
“There was a woman.”
“Who?”
“Your accountant. Elena Voss.”
Roman’s face changed.
“Elena disappeared two years ago.”
“She came to me.”
“When?”
“Three months after I left you.”
“What did she want?”
Norah swallowed.
“She said your father had hidden financial records. Payments to politicians, police officers, judges. She said someone was using your company to move money through the waterfront.”
Roman’s voice lowered.
“Did she give you the ledger?”
“No.”
“What did she give you?”
Norah’s hand moved toward her coat pocket.
Roman noticed but didn’t move.
She slowly removed a small brass key.
“Elena told me to keep this hidden.”
Roman stared at it.
A tiny symbol had been engraved into the metal.
The Mercer family crest.
“Where did she get it?” he asked.
Norah shook her head.
“She never told me.”
Roman reached toward the key.
Norah pulled it back.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Her voice trembled.
“Before I give you anything, I need to know one thing.”
“What?”
“Did you know what your father was doing?”
Roman’s eyes turned dark.
“No.”
“And if you did?”
He looked at her.
“I would have destroyed him.”
May you like
Norah studied his face.
Then she whispered, “That’s what I was afraid of.”
