Chapter 4 - The Ledger No One Was Supposed to See
We did not speak until the elevator doors closed.
Then I turned to Gideon.
“Who is Victor Dane?”
“I told you.”
“No. You told me what he did.”
Gideon said nothing.
“Alister thinks you know where he is.”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“You lied.”
“I withheld information.”
“That’s the polished version of lying.”
“You’re right.”
The admission disarmed me more than denial would have.
“Where is Victor?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“Protected.”
“By you?”
“Yes.”
The elevator descended.
Twenty floors.
Fifteen.
Ten.
“Why?”
“Because eighteen months ago he came to me with the ledger and asked for protection.”
“From the Pembertons?”
“Yes.”
“What did he give you?”
“Everything.”
“And what did you give him?”
“A new identity.”
The doors opened.
Rafe waited beside the car.
Within fifteen minutes, we were inside Gideon’s armored sedan heading away from the Hartwell Hotel.
“You committed a crime.”
Gideon looked out the window.
“Several.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Some of them do.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’ve never confused legality with morality.”
“And you get to decide?”
“No.”
He finally looked at me.
“That’s one of the reasons I never wanted you involved in this part of my life.”
I almost laughed.
“You didn’t want me involved?”
“No.”
“You hired me.”
“For Ferris Group.”
“Which is apparently attached to another empire.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
He paused.
“You called my private number at twenty-three and told me HR would reject you before I could discover whether they were wrong.”
“That impressed you?”
“It irritated me.”
“Same thing with you.”
That almost earned a smile.
Then he looked serious again.
“You were fearless.”
“I was desperate for a job.”
“You were both.”
The car turned onto a private road.
“Where are we going?”
“To Victor.”
I stared at him.
“You’re taking me to him?”
“You asked for the truth.”
“What changed?”
He looked at me.
“You took off the ring.”
I hated what those words did to me.
Not because I thought they were romantic.
Because I understood what he meant.
Until tonight, I had still been connected to Alister.
Anything Gideon told me could have endangered Victor.
Now I had burned the bridge publicly.
There was no pretending anymore.
The safe house sat on two wooded acres forty minutes outside the city.
A middle-aged man opened the door before we reached it.
He looked ordinary.
That surprised me.
Gray hair.
Wire-frame glasses.
Cardigan.
He stared at Gideon.
Then at me.
“No.”
Gideon said, “Victor.”
“You said nobody.”
“Things changed.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“That Emery Nash?”
I went cold.
“You know me?”
He stepped backward.
“Everybody in Pemberton’s organization knew you.”
My stomach turned.
“I wasn’t part of his organization.”
“No.”
Victor’s face softened with something like pity.
“You were the plan.”
Inside, he explained.
Senator Pemberton’s network had spent years acquiring distressed companies through shell corporations.
Biotech.
Energy.
Defense software.
Medical logistics.
Most founders believed they were receiving rescue capital.
Then came debt pressure.
Voting rights.
Proxy ownership.
Contracts.
Alister handled the relationships his father could not touch publicly.
“He was good at it,” Victor said.
“Charming. Patient. Never looked like the threat.”
I swallowed.
“Kyle?”
Victor nodded.
“Nash Bio appeared on a technology assessment eighteen months ago.”
The timing.
Exactly when Kyle’s financing collapsed.
“Did they cause the collapse?”
Victor hesitated.
My heart stopped.
“Did they?”
“They accelerated it.”
I stood.
“What does that mean?”
“One of the investors was encouraged to withdraw.”
“By whom?”
“Meridian.”
My hands began shaking.
“So Kyle didn’t simply lose funding.”
“No.”
“They created the crisis.”
“They exploited one already forming.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Victor looked ashamed.
“They pushed.”
I turned away.
For eighteen months, Kyle had believed he had failed.
I had believed Alister saved him.
Alister had created the fire and then arrived carrying water.
“Why me?”
Victor folded his hands.
“Because Kyle trusts you.”
“That’s it?”
“And because Alister liked you.”
The words were almost worse.
“So some part was real?”
“I don’t know.”
Gideon had not moved.
Victor continued.
“Men like Alister can want something and use it at the same time.”
I looked at Gideon.
“And men like you?”
His face changed.
“I’m not asking you to trust me because I want you.”
Victor went silent.
So did I.
Gideon continued.
“I’m asking you to judge me by what I do.”
My heartbeat stumbled.
Victor looked between us.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
I sat again.
“What happens now?”
Victor sighed.
“The ledger proves conspiracy, extortion, securities fraud, bribery, and illegal campaign finance activity.”
“Then why haven’t you gone to the authorities?”
He laughed bitterly.
“I did.”
“What?”
“Twelve years ago I believed institutions worked exactly the way they were described in civics textbooks.”
“What happened?”
“The investigator I contacted gave my name to Senator Pemberton.”
My stomach dropped.
“I barely survived.”
Gideon said, “That investigator retired three years later with a house he couldn’t afford.”
“So who can we trust?”
“A federal prosecutor in Boston,” Gideon said.
“Name?”
“Marissa Cole.”
Victor nodded.
“She’s clean.”
“How do you know?”
Gideon’s expression remained unreadable.
“Because she tried to indict me once.”
I stared.
Victor laughed for the first time.
“Ferris respects enemies with standards.”
“Did she indict you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She couldn’t prove it.”
“Were you guilty?”
Gideon looked directly at me.
“Yes.”
Victor stopped laughing.
I appreciated the answer.
I did not like it.
But I appreciated it.
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Kyle leaving the lab.
Taken minutes earlier.
Then a message.
Come back before Saturday’s announcement and this ends quietly.
Another image.
My apartment building.
Then:
You have until tomorrow at noon.
I showed Gideon.
Every line of his body changed.
“Rafe.”
Rafe was already moving.
Victor looked pale.
“They’re escalating.”
“What happens at noon?” I asked.
Gideon stared at the phone.
“Nothing.”
The calmness in his voice frightened me.
“You’re not meeting him.”
“I might have to.”
“No.”
“You don’t decide.”
His eyes lifted.
“No, I don’t.”
Then, more quietly:
“But I can ask.”
I looked at the threats again.
Kyle.
My home.
My life.
For five years, I had watched Gideon make decisions under pressure.
Never rushed.
Never emotional.
Always three moves ahead.
Now, for the first time, I understood how lonely that must be.
“What would you do?”
His eyes narrowed.
“If you were me?”
“No.”
I held his gaze.
“If you were you.”
He understood.
“I’d make Alister think he won.”
Victor leaned forward.
“That’s dangerous.”
Gideon nodded.
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So we give him exactly what he wants.”
I stared.
“Me?”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“The illusion of you.”
May you like
And by the way Victor looked at him, I knew Gideon Ferris had just decided to start a war.
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