My Ex-Girlfriend’s Older Sister Got Stood Up At An Art Gallery… So I Asked, “Can I Sit with You ?
Chapter 8
The ledger contained every transaction.
Every shell company.
Every hidden account.
Every payoff.
Victor’s entire network.
But one page was missing.
The last page.
Amelia searched the room.
“Where would your father hide the final page?”
I thought.
“Somewhere nobody would look.”
She smiled.
“Your mother.”
“What?”
“She knew.”
We found an old recording.
Clara Carter speaking.
“If you’re watching this, Victor has already found the ledger.”
“Take the final page to the place where Amelia was born.”
The hospital.
Amelia froze.
Her mother had given birth there.
We drove immediately.
The old maternity ward had been renovated.
But the hospital kept the original archives.
A nurse helped us search.
Then we found the file.
Amelia’s birth record.
Behind it was an envelope.
The final page.
And a photograph.
Amelia as a baby.
My father holding her.
I stared.
“Why was he there?”
The nurse looked surprised.
“Because your father worked here.”
I shook my head.
“My father was a mechanic.”
She smiled.
“That’s what people thought.”
Inside the envelope was a letter.
Daniel,
You have spent your life believing you were ordinary.
You were never ordinary.
My father’s writing.
Your father and Amelia’s father trusted each other with more than money.
They trusted each other with their children.
I looked at Amelia.
She was crying.
Then came the sentence I never expected.
If you are reading this with Amelia beside you, I know I made the right choice.
We stared at each other.
No words.
The man who had left us all these secrets had apparently believed we’d find each other.
Then the hospital lights went out.
A voice came from the corridor.
“Beautiful story.”
Victor.
He stepped into the doorway.
He was older than his photographs.
But alive.
Amelia moved closer to me.
Victor smiled.
“Give me the page.”
“No.”
“Then your mother dies.”
“Where is she?”
“Close.”
He raised a phone.
Clara appeared on screen.
Alive.
Tied to a chair.
Amelia gasped.
“Mom!”
Victor laughed.
“Family is such a useful weakness.”
I stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
“The Blackwater network.”
“You already have it.”
“No.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“I have the money.”
“I want legitimacy.”
Amelia understood.
“He wants the company.”
“Exactly.”
Victor wanted us to sign over the original shares.
Then he would become the legal owner.
“We won’t.”
“Then she dies.”
I looked at Amelia.
She looked at me.
Then she whispered,
“Do it.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Sign.”
Victor smiled.
She continued quietly.
“Trust me.”
We took the documents.
We signed.
Victor took them.
Then he smiled.
“Excellent.”
He turned.
“Bring the woman.”
Two men appeared.
But before they could move, Amelia pulled a small device from her pocket.
A recording started.
Victor’s confession.
Every threat.
Every admission.
Every transaction.
He froze.
The federal agents entered.
Victor looked at me.
“You recorded me.”
Amelia smiled.
“You underestimated your own daughter.”
Victor was arrested.
Clara was rescued.
And the company was finally safe.
But there was still one thing left.
The original shares had been transferred.
And Victor had already signed the agreement.
Meaning the company now legally belonged to…
Amelia and me.
