Chapter 4 - The Ledger

Adrian reached for the flash drive.

I pulled it back.

"Don't."

He stopped. "Fair."

Eleanor looked furious. "We need to know what's on it."

"We need a computer that isn't connected to your network," I said.

One of the security guards frowned. "Why?"

"Because if Martin is running, someone may be monitoring your systems."

Adrian nodded. "I have an offline laptop in my office downstairs."

Vanessa laughed once. "Of course you do."

"You're not helping yourself," he said.

We moved through a service hallway instead of the public elevator. I noticed a camera above the door pivot as we passed.

That camera should have been fixed.

"Who controls building surveillance?" I asked.

Eleanor answered. "Martin."

Great.

Adrian's office was on the forty-second floor. He locked the door and opened a small safe behind a painting. Inside was a sealed laptop.

"Corporate litigation," he explained. "We keep one clean machine for reviewing hostile files."

I inserted the drive.

A single folder appeared.

LEDGER.

Inside were bank transfers, scanned signatures, donor records, hotel invoices, and photos of private meetings.

The money wasn't six million.

It was forty-three million.

Eleanor sat down hard.

"This goes back eleven years."

Adrian scrolled slowly. "Some of these accounts predate Vanessa's position at the foundation."

Vanessa leaned against the wall. "I told you."

Then I saw a file named N.CARTER.

My name.

My full personnel history was inside.

Military contracts. Prague. Lena Ortiz. My current apartment. My mother's address in Queens.

My hands went cold.

"Martin didn't find me three days ago," I said. "He's been tracking me for months."

Adrian looked at the screen. "Why?"

I opened the last document.

A photograph filled the screen.

It had been taken outside my apartment six months earlier.

I was carrying groceries.

Standing across the street, half hidden behind a parked car, was Lena.

My former partner.

The woman I had not seen in five years.

Under the photo was a note.

SUBJECT CARTER REMAINS UNAWARE ORTIZ IS ACTIVE.

Eleanor stared at me. "Active in what?"

Before I could answer, the office lights went out.

The emergency system did not come on.

Then someone tried the locked door.

Once.

May you like

Billionaire’s Wife Kicked a Waitress in Front of 300 Elites—One Slap Exp...

The billionaire’s wife tried to kick a waitress in the face in front of 300 wealthy guests. But seconds later, she whispered three...

My Mother Grabbed My Wife by the Hair Over Cold Soup—But What My Father...

My mother grabbed my wife by the hair over a bowl of cold soup. And the most shameful part? For one terrible second, I almost defe...

My Parents Kicked My 6-Year-Old Daughter and Me Out on Christmas—Then I...

My mother kicked my six-year-old daughter out of Christmas dinner, never realizing I was the only reason she still had a house to...

Twice.

On the third attempt, the electronic lock clicked open.