Chapter 3 The Hidden Ledger
The pounding came again.
Three heavy blows against the back door.
Emilia's heart raced.
Thomas reached for her in the darkness and pulled her away from the windows.
"Stay behind me."
"Dad, who is out there?"
"I don't know."
"You just said they found us."
"I know."
The next blow shook the door in its frame.
Emilia could hear someone trying the handle.
Her father moved toward the workbench.
"Where are the emergency lights?"
"Under the counter."
Thomas found the switch.
A weak red glow filled the workshop.
It was enough to reveal his face.
He looked frightened.
That frightened Emilia more than the pounding.
She had seen her father face storms, debt, illness, and years of uncertainty without losing his composure.
Now his hands were shaking.
"Dad."
Thomas looked at her.
"If anything happens, you leave through the rear path."
"What?"
"The path behind the storage shed leads to the road."
"I'm not leaving you."
"You will."
"No."
His eyes hardened.
"For once in your life, Emilia, listen to me."
She stared at him.
Then the back door rattled violently.
Thomas moved toward it.
Emilia caught his arm.
"Don't."
He looked down at her hand.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then the pounding stopped.
Silence.
Thomas slowly released her.
They waited.
Nothing happened.
No footsteps.
No voice.
Nothing.
Emilia's breathing gradually slowed.
"Maybe they're gone."
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because people who come for something valuable don't leave after knocking."
A faint sound came from the front of the workshop.
The main door opened.
Thomas went rigid.
Someone had entered.
Emilia heard footsteps moving across the wooden floor.
Then a man's voice called out.
"Mr. Foster?"
Thomas closed his eyes.
Emilia whispered, "Who is it?"
Thomas looked at her.
"I don't know."
The voice came again.
"There's no need to be afraid."
Emilia almost laughed.
The words were absurd.
Thomas reached beneath the workbench and pulled out an old flashlight.
He handed it to her.
"If I tell you to run, run."
"What about you?"
"I'll follow."
"You promise?"
Thomas hesitated.
Then he nodded.
"I promise."
They stepped into the main workshop.
A man stood near the entrance.
He was not the stranger from earlier.
This man was younger, perhaps in his forties, wearing a dark jacket and carrying a leather folder.
He looked almost ordinary.
That made him more unsettling.
His gaze settled on Emilia.
"So you're the daughter."
Thomas moved between them.
"You need to leave."
The man smiled.
"My name is Victor Shaw."
Emilia's stomach tightened.
The name meant nothing.
Then she remembered the photograph.
Edwin Shaw.
One of the four men standing outside Bellweather House.
"You're related to Edwin Shaw."
The man's smile disappeared.
"You're more informed than I expected."
Thomas cursed quietly.
Victor looked at him.
"You should have destroyed those records years ago."
"I tried."
"But you didn't."
Victor's gaze shifted to Emilia.
"And now she knows."
Emilia stepped forward.
"What happened at Bellweather?"
Victor said nothing.
"What did my grandfather do?"
Thomas answered.
"He made a deal."
Victor looked at him.
"A deal that saved your family."
Emilia's eyes narrowed.
"What did we pay?"
Victor smiled without warmth.
"That's the question, isn't it?"
He turned toward the door.
"I suggest you find the ledger before someone else does."
"Why?" Emilia asked.
Victor stopped.
"Because the person who gets there first controls the story."
Then he walked out.
Emilia stared after him.
"That wasn't a threat."
Thomas looked at her.
"No."
"What was it?"
"A warning."
Marcus drove faster than he normally allowed himself.
Daniel sat beside him.
Neither brother spoke for several minutes.
The road toward the Foster property stretched along the coast.
Rain had begun to fall.
Marcus tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
He could not stop thinking about the letter.
If Emilia ever learns the truth, she must never be allowed to see the original ledger.
Why had his father written those words?
What had happened between the Aldridges and the Fosters?
And why had Emilia been mentioned specifically?
"Marcus."
He glanced at Daniel.
"What?"
"You need to slow down."
"No."
"You won't help Emilia by crashing the car."
Marcus eased his foot from the accelerator.
Daniel looked through the windshield.
"You know what bothers me?"
Marcus said nothing.
"You've spent your entire life thinking Dad's greatest flaw was that he was hard."
Marcus glanced at him.
"And?"
"I think he was afraid."
Marcus frowned.
"Of what?"
"Of losing control."
The words stayed between them.
Marcus knew that fear.
He had inherited more from his father than a company and a surname.
He had inherited the belief that control was safety.
He had built his marriage around it without realizing it.
He decided when they traveled.
When they moved.
When they attended events.
When they discussed money.
He had never intended to control Emilia.
He had simply assumed there would always be time to ask what she wanted later.
Later.
The word had become a graveyard of missed moments.
His phone rang.
Grant.
Marcus answered through the car system.
"Tell me."
Grant's voice was tense.
"We checked the Foster workshop."
Marcus's eyes narrowed.
"And?"
"No one is answering."
"Did you go inside?"
"We're on our way."
"Get there now."
"We're almost there."
Marcus ended the call.
Daniel looked at him.
"You think someone has hurt them?"
"I don't know."
"Then why are you shaking?"
Marcus looked down.
His hands were steady.
At least they appeared to be.
He had not realized how frightened he was until Daniel pointed it out.
Not for the company.
Not for Bellweather.
For Emilia.
He remembered her face when she had stood at the door.
She had not been angry.
She had looked tired.
That was worse.
Marcus had spent years believing that if Emilia became angry, they could argue and eventually solve the problem.
He had never considered that one day she might simply stop fighting.
The Foster workshop was empty when Marcus arrived.
The rear door stood open.
Rain blew across the threshold.
Marcus stepped inside.
"Emilia!"
No answer.
Daniel followed.
"Thomas!"
Nothing.
Grant arrived moments later with two security officers.
"Marcus."
Marcus turned.
"Search everything."
The men spread through the workshop.
Marcus noticed the overturned chair.
A drawer had been pulled open.
Papers were scattered across the floor.
He crouched beside them.
Old property records.
Invoices.
Photographs.
Nothing obvious.
Then he saw something near the workbench.
A small piece of metal.
Marcus picked it up.
A broken key.
Daniel came closer.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
Marcus turned it over.
There was an engraving.
B.H.
Bellweather House.
His pulse quickened.
"Someone has been here."
Grant nodded.
"Definitely."
Marcus looked around.
He saw something else.
A photograph lying beneath a chair.
He picked it up.
Four men stood outside Bellweather House.
One was Richard Aldridge.
The second was an older Thomas Foster.
Marcus stared at the photograph.
He knew the other two faces.
One belonged to a man whose name had appeared in his father's files.
Edwin Shaw.
The other was Martin Voss.
Both men were supposed to have died years ago.
Marcus's expression changed.
"Grant."
Grant came over.
"What?"
"Find out if Martin Voss is alive."
Grant looked at the photograph.
"I'll check."
Marcus's phone vibrated.
A message.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
If you want your wife safe, stop searching for Bellweather.
Marcus's blood went cold.
Daniel saw his face.
"What is it?"
Marcus handed him the phone.
Daniel read the message.
Then looked at his brother.
"They have Emilia."
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
"How can you know?"
"Because if they had her, they'd ask for something."
Daniel looked at the message again.
"What if they're watching her?"
Marcus's gaze moved toward the rain outside.
Then he saw fresh tire tracks leading away from the workshop.
His heart began pounding.
"We're going to Bellweather."
Grant stepped forward.
"Marcus, that may be exactly what they want."
"I don't care."
"Think."
Marcus turned.
"I spent six years thinking I had more time."
His voice was low.
"I don't intend to make that mistake again."
Emilia sat beside her father in his old pickup.
Rain blurred the windshield.
Thomas drove toward the coast road with both hands tight around the steering wheel.
Neither had spoken for several minutes.
Finally Emilia said, "You lied to me."
Thomas's jaw tightened.
"I know."
"About Bellweather."
"Yes."
"About the Aldridges."
"Yes."
"About why you hated the idea of me marrying Marcus."
Thomas glanced at her.
"I never hated Marcus."
"You never trusted him."
"No."
"Why?"
Thomas looked back at the road.
"Because I knew what his family had done."
Emilia felt tears burn behind her eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I wanted you to have a normal life."
She laughed bitterly.
"Normal?"
Thomas flinched.
"I thought if you knew about Bellweather, you'd spend your life digging into it."
"Maybe I should have."
"Maybe."
"Then why did you let me marry him?"
Thomas's silence hurt.
"Dad."
He finally spoke.
"Because I saw how you looked at him."
Emilia turned toward the window.
"You knew I loved him."
"Yes."
"And you thought love would protect me."
"No."
Thomas swallowed.
"I thought it might give you something good before the past found you."
Emilia closed her eyes.
Her father had tried to protect her.
But protection built on silence had brought her into the very danger he feared.
"Where are we going?"
"Bellweather."
She looked at him.
"You said we couldn't go there."
"We can't."
"Then why are we?"
"Because the ledger is there."
Emilia's heart began racing.
"Where?"
Thomas reached into his coat pocket.
He removed the brass key.
"Under the old chapel."
Bellweather House stood against the cliffs like a wounded monument.
Its stone walls were dark with rain.
Most of the windows were boarded up, but the eastern wing still showed signs of recent restoration.
Emilia had visited the property dozens of times during her work.
She had always thought the house was beautiful.
Now it looked different.
Secretive.
Almost watchful.
Thomas parked near the old chapel.
They stepped out into the rain.
Emilia pulled her coat tighter.
"Does Marcus know?"
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
She looked toward the estate.
"Maybe I should tell him."
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because we don't know who we can trust."
Emilia thought of the message.
If you want your wife safe, stop searching for Bellweather.
Someone was already watching.
She reached for her phone.
No signal.
"Of course."
Thomas looked at the chapel.
"Come."
They entered through a side door.
The interior smelled of damp stone and old wood.
Emilia followed her father down a narrow corridor.
"How did you know about this?"
"Your grandfather showed me."
"When?"
"The week before he died."
Emilia stopped.
"My grandfather never talked about Bellweather."
"He was afraid."
"Of Richard Aldridge?"
"Of what Richard had done."
They reached the end of the corridor.
A stone wall stood before them.
Thomas touched one of the stones.
"Help me."
Together they moved a loose section.
Behind it was a narrow opening.
Emilia stared.
"What is that?"
"An old passage."
Thomas climbed inside.
Emilia followed.
The passage was cramped and dark.
After several minutes, they reached a small chamber beneath the chapel.
There was an old wooden table.
On it sat a black metal box.
Emilia's heart pounded.
"The ledger."
Thomas nodded.
She approached it.
There was a lock.
She handed him the brass key.
He inserted it.
The lock opened.
Inside was a thick leather-bound book.
Emilia reached for it.
Thomas stopped her.
"Wait."
"Why?"
"Your grandfather said something else."
"What?"
Thomas looked at the ledger.
"He said the truth wasn't the most dangerous thing inside Bellweather."
Emilia frowned.
"What was?"
Thomas looked at her.
"The person who would kill to keep it hidden."
A sound echoed from the passage.
Footsteps.
They both froze.
Someone was coming.
Thomas grabbed the ledger.
"Hide."
Emilia looked around.
There was nowhere to go.
The footsteps came closer.
Then a familiar voice echoed through the passage.
"Emilia?"
Her heart stopped.
Marcus.
Thomas closed his eyes.
Emilia stared toward the darkness.
Marcus called again.
"Emilia, I know you're here."
She stepped toward the passage.
Then another voice came from behind her.
A whisper.
"Don't move."
Emilia froze.
Someone was standing in the chamber with them.
She had not heard the person enter.
A hand reached for the ledger.
And before Emilia could turn, the lights went out.