Chapter 4 - THE SAFE
The safe was hidden inside my mother's old house.
I hadn't been there in years.
My mother had died when I was nineteen.
My father had died before that.
The house had been empty ever since.
Roman came with me.
I looked at the peeling paint.
“I can't believe I'm doing this.”
“You don't have to.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm tired of being the last person to know what is happening in my own life.”
He smiled slightly.
“Fair.”
Inside, everything smelled like dust.
My father's office was exactly as I remembered.
Old desk.
Broken lamp.
Stacks of accounting books.
I searched for hours.
Nothing.
Then Roman noticed the floorboard beneath the desk.
He crouched.
“Here.”
We lifted it.
A metal box was underneath.
My hands shook.
Inside was a key.
A photograph.
And a handwritten note.
I opened it.
Nina,
If you're reading this, someone finally found the trail.
Don't trust the people who tell you money is the reason.
Money is only the door.
The truth is behind it.
I looked at Roman.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
The key had a number.
417
Roman stared at it.
“That's a storage vault.”
“Where?”
“Downtown.”
We drove there.
The vault opened with the key.
Inside were documents.
Bank records.
Property deeds.
Photographs.
And one file labeled:
ROMAN MERCER
I stared.
“What?”
Roman took it.
His expression changed.
Inside was a photograph of his father.
My father stood beside him.
Roman read the documents.
“My father didn't die naturally.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“He was poisoned.”
Silence.
“My father discovered who did it.”
“Who?”
Roman turned another page.
The name was there.
Victor Hale.
Roman's former business partner.
The man who now controlled several competing properties in Pittsburgh.
Roman's jaw tightened.
“He's been trying to find these records for years.”
I looked at him.
“And now he knows we have them.”
Roman nodded.
The lights suddenly went out.
I grabbed his arm.
“Roman?”
“Stay behind me.”
Something crashed in the hallway.
Then footsteps.
Roman pulled me into the vault.
The door slammed shut.
We were trapped.
And someone outside whispered:
“Mercer.”
Roman's expression became terrifyingly calm.
“I found you,” the voice said.
May you like
Roman looked at me.
“Now you know what kind of man I'm really fighting.”
