Chapter 5
My mind raced.
Charles was coming.
The hidden door wouldn't open.
I looked around frantically for somewhere to hide.
The desk.
I dove under it just as Charles and Hale walked into view.
My heart was hammering so loud I was sure they could hear it.
"Probably just the wind," Hale said.
Charles grunted. "This house is too well-built for drafts. I'm telling you, I heard something."
Their shoes clicked on the hardwood floor as they moved around the room.
I held my breath, pressing myself as far back against the wall as I could.
Charles' desk was made of solid oak, heavy and imposing.
There was just enough space for me to fit underneath.
But if either of them bent down to look...
"Pour me another drink," Charles said.
I heard the clink of glass.
"To the future," Charles said. "To Hale Industries finally being where it belongs."
"To the future," Hale echoed.
They drank.
"Now, about the safe," Hale said. "Should we move the documents? Just to be safe?"
My ears perked up.
The safe.
"Why?" Charles asked. "Who's going to find them? The only other person who knew about that room is dead. And Lucien is in jail. Relax, Thomas. We're fine."
"Elena might have told someone," Hale insisted. "Her lawyer. That Sarah Chen woman. She was always too close."
"Sarah Chen is a nobody," Charles scoffed. "And even if Elena did tell her, what good does it do? She doesn't have the key. She doesn't know the combination. She can't get in."
The combination.
So the safe needed both a key and a combination.
Elena had given me the key.
But I didn't have the combination.
"What is the combination again?" Hale asked. "Just so I have it straight."
Charles sighed, annoyed. "You're worse than my daughter. It's the date the company was founded. 03-17-1985. Simple. Easy to remember. Now stop worrying."
03-17-1985.
I memorized it, burning it into my brain.
March 17, 1985.
The day Hale Industries was born.
The day Charles' empire began.
And now, possibly, the day it would end.
"Fine," Hale said. "But I still think we should move the money. The offshore accounts. If anyone finds those ledgers..."
"The ledgers are safe," Charles said firmly. "They're in the safe, in the hidden room, behind a bookshelf nobody knows about. Stop being paranoid. Tomorrow, Lucien goes to jail for assault. Ava comes to live with me. We announce the company restructuring. And everything goes back to normal."
I wanted to jump out from under that desk and strangle him.
But I forced myself to stay still.
The evidence.
I needed the evidence.
Without it, his words were just hearsay.
With it, he'd spend the rest of his life in prison.
"Well, I'm going to bed," Hale said. "Long day tomorrow."
"Goodnight," Charles said.
I heard Hale's footsteps walk toward the door.
The door opened and closed.
Charles was alone.
I heard him pour another drink.
Then I heard him walk toward the fireplace.
The flames crackled.
He was standing with his back to me, staring into the fire.
This was my chance.
I slowly, carefully, began to crawl out from under the desk.
My knees ached.
My muscles screamed.
But I moved silently, inch by inch.
I was almost out.
Almost free.
Then my elbow hit the leg of the desk.
A soft thud.
Charles froze.
He turned.
Our eyes met.
For a heartbeat, neither of us moved.
Then his face twisted with rage.
"You!" he roared.
I didn't wait.
I lunged for the bookshelf, my hand scanning the spines, looking for something—anything—that looked like a trigger.
Charles charged at me.
I grabbed a random book and pulled.
The bookshelf clicked.
The wall swung open.
I dove through the opening just as Charles' hands reached for my ankles.
The door slammed shut behind me.
I heard him pounding on it, screaming.
But the hidden door was solid, reinforced.
He couldn't get through.
Not without time.
And time was something I didn't have.
I turned on the flashlight.
The secret room was small, windowless, lined with filing cabinets.
In the center of the back wall was a large, heavy safe.
I ran to it.
The keyhole was on the left.
I pulled out the silver key Sarah had given me, my hands shaking.
It slid in perfectly.
I turned it.
Click.
Now the combination.
03-17-1985.
I spun the dial.
Right to 03.
Left to 17.
Right to 1985.
Nothing happened.
I tried again.
03-17-85.
Still nothing.
The pounding on the door grew louder.
Charles was calling for the guards.
I had minutes, maybe seconds.
Think, Lucien.
Think.
Charles said the date the company was founded.
But what if he'd lied?
What if it was something else?
Elena.
He'd killed Elena.
But he'd also loved her, in his own twisted way.
Her birthday.
07-15-1988.
I spun the dial.
07-15-88.
Click.
The safe door swung open.
Inside were stacks of documents, ledgers, and a single USB drive.
I grabbed everything, shoving it into my jacket.
The pounding on the door stopped.
Silence.
Then I heard the beep of a keypad.
Charles had a code.
He was opening the door from the outside.
I looked around the room for another exit.
May you like
There was none.
I was trapped.
