Chapter 7 - THE SECOND LEDGER Rourke finally confessed.
Charles had kept two sets of records.
The first protected the company's public image.
The second recorded favors.
Judges.
Bank executives.
Doctors.
Security contractors.
Journalists.
Politicians.
People who had been paid, threatened, manipulated, or compromised.
Then Rourke gave Nathan one name.
Rose Donnelly.
Charles's former private secretary.
She had copied the second ledger.
And disappeared.
Grace finally admitted that Rose had contacted her months earlier.
Rose had told her Charles had begun regretting what he had done.
Nathan felt betrayed.
“You knew she was alive.”
“I was protecting her.”
“You were protecting everyone but me.”
Grace looked at him.
“I trusted you more than I trusted the people around you.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“It isn't.”
Then Nathan received a photograph.
A cottage in the woods.
Rose stood on the porch.
The message beneath it read:
WE FOUND HER FIRST.
A second photograph arrived.
The cottage door was open.
Three words followed.
SHE IS GONE.
Grace went pale.
May you like
The hunt for Rose had begun.
And Nathan realized someone was trying to erase every person who could prove what happened five years ago.
