I Told My Roommate My Date Rejected Me… Her Next Words Left Me Speechless
Chapter 7
My father died when I was sixteen.
I remembered very little about his work.
He had been an accountant.
At least, that was what I’d always thought.
When we got home, I went through the old boxes he’d left behind.
There were tax forms.
Old letters.
A broken watch.
Nothing unusual.
Then Claire found a locked notebook.
Inside was a list of names.
Thomas Morgan.
Olivia Grant.
Ryan Cross.
And my father.
I stared at it.
“Why is your name there?”
Claire asked.
“I don’t know.”
We found another page.
My father had written:
Thomas trusts me. But I cannot trust Olivia.
I read it twice.
“My dad knew your father.”
Claire nodded.
“And he was helping him.”
“Yes.”
Another page had a sentence underlined three times.
If something happens to Thomas, the ledger must never fall into Olivia’s hands.
At the bottom was an address.
Our apartment.
I stared.
“What?”
“The ledger may have been here all along.”
Claire looked around.
“That makes no sense.”
“My father rented this apartment before I did.”
“What?”
I nodded.
“He lived here for years.”
Claire stared at me.
“My roommate’s father had the original ledger.”
Neither of us could speak.
We searched every inch of the apartment.
Kitchen cabinets.
Floorboards.
Closets.
Nothing.
Then Claire noticed something.
“The bookshelf.”
“What about it?”
“Your father hated built-in furniture.”
I frowned.
“He said it trapped dust.”
She moved the bookshelf.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside sat a black notebook.
The original ledger.
Claire covered her mouth.
I picked it up.
It was old.
Handwritten entries.
Amounts.
Dates.
Names.
And evidence of payments to Olivia.
But one name appeared more often than any other.
Ryan Cross.
I stared.
“He wasn’t just helping her.”
“No.”
Claire looked sick.
“He was laundering the money himself.”
Then we found a second document.
It was a letter from Thomas Morgan.
Addressed to me.
Daniel,
If you’re reading this, I’ve failed to keep the people I love safe.
I swallowed.
Your father agreed to hide the ledger because I knew Olivia would come after me. I did not tell Claire because I feared she would be used against me.
Claire started crying.
The next paragraph made my heart hurt.
Daniel, if you ever meet my daughter, don’t tell her everything at once. Let her decide whether she can trust you.
I looked at Claire.
She looked back.
“He knew we might meet.”
I nodded.
The final line said:
She will need someone who chooses her even when the truth becomes difficult.
Claire wiped her eyes.
“I never knew.”
“Neither did I.”
Then we heard a noise.
The front door.
Someone was inside.
We froze.
Footsteps moved through the hallway.
Claire whispered,
“Ryan.”
I grabbed the ledger.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
She took my hand.
“We do this together.”
The footsteps stopped outside our room.
Then a voice came through the door.
“Daniel.”
Ryan.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
I stared at Claire.
She looked terrified.
But she didn’t let go of my hand.
Ryan continued.
“Give me the ledger.”
I whispered,
“No.”
Silence.
Then he laughed.
“You really don’t know what you’ve found.”
Claire stepped toward the door.
“Tell us.”
Ryan’s voice changed.
“Ask Daniel what his father did to protect yours.”
I looked at Claire.
“What does that mean?”
Ryan laughed again.
Then the door handle moved.
And suddenly, the past wasn’t hidden anymore.
It was standing right outside our bedroom.
