No One Could Serve the Foreign Tycoon — Until the Waitress Switched Languages!
Chapter 5
Victor didn’t look angry.
That frightened Emma more.
He looked disappointed.
“Uncle Victor…”
“You were always curious.”
“Did you kill my father?”
His smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Victor moved closer.
“You don’t understand what your father discovered.”
“I understand enough.”
“You don’t.”
Emma held the notebook behind her.
Victor noticed.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“From your father’s enemies.”
“You were one of them.”
He sighed.
Then something crashed downstairs.
Victor turned.
Emma used the distraction.
She ran.
She reached the staircase and nearly collided with Alexander.
He had a cut above his eyebrow.
“Go!”
They ran through the back door.
Victor shouted behind them.
They reached the car.
Alexander drove.
Only after they were several blocks away did Emma speak.
“He said he protected me.”
“He was buying time.”
“For what?”
“To find what your father hid.”
Emma looked at the notebook.
“Then we have to find it first.”
Alexander nodded.
“Agreed.”
They spent the morning decoding Daniel’s notes.
The numbers were shipping containers.
The names were companies.
The letters represented ports.
But one repeated phrase appeared throughout the notebook.
Where the river bends beneath the old clock.
Emma frowned.
“There is an old clock tower near the eastern docks.”
Alexander looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“My father used to take me there.”
“Then that’s where we’re going.”
The clock tower stood abandoned.
Its stone walls were blackened from years of pollution.
Inside, the old machinery had stopped at 2:17.
Emma remembered her father telling her that time was sometimes more trustworthy than people.
She climbed the narrow stairs.
Alexander followed.
At the top they found nothing.
Emma looked around.
Then she noticed a loose brick.
Behind it was a metal box.
Inside was a recording device.
Alexander stared.
“Your father left this.”
Emma pressed play.
Daniel’s voice filled the room.
“If you are hearing this, I failed to stop them.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“I need you to understand something. The people behind Black Orchid are not interested only in money. They are buying information.”
A pause.
“Shipping routes. Government contracts. Technology.”
Emma’s breathing tightened.
Daniel continued.
“There is someone inside the organization I trusted.”
Static.
Then:
“Someone who knows my daughter.”
The recording ended.
Emma stared at Alexander.
“Who knows me?”
Before he could answer, the clock mechanism suddenly moved.
2:18.
A hidden compartment opened beneath the floor.
Inside was another envelope.
Alexander picked it up.
The name on the front was written clearly.
For Emma.
She opened it.
The letter contained only one sentence.
The man who betrayed me will come looking for you before midnight.
Emma looked at the clock.
It was already 11:43.
