Merchant’s Son Humiliated an Apprentice — But Her Father Owned the Trading House
Chapter 7
The attack forced Jonathan to reveal what he had hidden for twenty years.
Lord Edmund Vale controlled more than ships.
He controlled men.
Judges.
Harbor officials.
Debt collectors.
And, according to Jonathan, several merchants who were too afraid to resist him.
“But why attack now?” Anna asked.
Jonathan answered:
“Because your father returned.”
Elias looked at him.
“What does Samuel have?”
“Proof.”
Anna understood.
The old account book was only part of the evidence.
Samuel had something else.
A letter.
A letter written by Anna’s grandfather shortly before his death.
It named everyone involved.
Anna immediately sent a messenger to find her father.
He arrived that afternoon.
When Samuel saw the account book, he sat heavily in a chair.
“I thought this was destroyed.”
“It wasn’t.”
He looked at Jonathan.
“You kept it.”
“Yes.”
Samuel’s anger returned.
“Why?”
“Because I promised your father.”
Samuel went silent.
Jonathan reached into a locked drawer and removed a sealed envelope.
“I couldn’t protect him then.”
He placed it on the table.
“But I can protect his truth now.”
Inside was a letter.
Anna read it.
Her grandfather had written that Jonathan was not his enemy.
He had written that Vale had created the entire scheme.
He had also written something that made Anna’s hands shake.
If anything happens to me, trust Jonathan Hawthorne. He knows where the final proof is hidden.
Anna looked up.
“Where?”
Jonathan hesitated.
“The Hawthorne warehouse.”
Elias frowned.
“My warehouse?”
“Under the floor.”
That night, they went together.
They lifted the heavy boards near the rear wall.
Beneath them was a stone chamber.
Inside lay ledgers, contracts, letters, and a sealed metal box.
Samuel opened it.
Inside was the final document.
A list of payments made by Vale to officials.
There were dozens of names.
Some were still powerful.
Anna looked at her father.
“We take this to the governor.”
Samuel shook his head.
“The governor may already be compromised.”
“Then who?”
Jonathan answered.
“The king’s customs investigator arrives in three days.”
Elias stared at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I sent the letter.”
Anna looked at Jonathan differently.
“You’ve been preparing this.”
“For twenty years.”
A noise came from above.
Everyone froze.
Footsteps.
Then another.
Someone was inside the warehouse.
Elias whispered:
“They found us.”
The door slammed shut.
Smoke began pouring beneath it.
Fire.
Someone had set the warehouse ablaze.
Anna looked at the evidence.
Then at the flames.
They had three choices.
Run.
Save the papers.
Or save each other.
Elias grabbed the metal box.
“Go!”
But Anna saw him turn back toward the burning room.
And for the first time, she realized the arrogant young man she had hated might not be the man she thought he was.
