Chapter 5
577 Words
Elias didn’t touch the file again.
He just stared at it.
“My father had nothing to do with Voss Corporation.”
Victor gave him a tired look.
“You’ve been told that.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you don’t know the whole story.”
Elias looked at Sophia.
“You knew.”
She didn’t deny it.
“How long?”
“Before we met.”
He laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“So the contract wasn’t really about my work.”
“Not entirely.”
“Then what was it about?”
Sophia walked to the window.
“Your father worked with my father years ago.”
Elias frowned.
“My father was an engineer.”
“He was more than that.”
Victor opened the file and pulled out an old photograph.
Three men stood outside a building.
One of them was Victor.
Another was a younger version of Sophia’s father.
And the third—
Elias stopped.
He knew that face.
His father’s face.
“What were they working on?”
Victor hesitated.
“An investment project.”
“That’s all?”
“No.”
Elias looked at him.
“Then tell me the truth.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“The project collapsed. Money disappeared. People blamed your father.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Elias felt something tighten in his chest.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
“My father spent the rest of his life trying to clear his name.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn’t anyone help him?”
Victor didn’t answer.
Sophia did.
“Because someone made sure nobody would.”
The room went silent.
Elias looked at her.
“Who?”
Sophia shook her head.
“We don’t know yet.”
“Then what exactly am I doing here?”
“We found something your father left behind.”
Elias looked at the file.
“What?”
“A recording.”
His heart skipped.
“Where is it?”
Sophia reached into the drawer and removed a small black drive.
“Here.”
Elias stared at it.
“Why haven’t you listened to it?”
“We couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because it was encrypted.”
Elias looked at the drive.
“And you think I can open it?”
Sophia nodded.
“Your father built the encryption system himself.”
Elias took the drive.
It was surprisingly light.
But somehow it felt heavier than anything he’d ever held.
“What happens if I open it?”
Sophia looked directly at him.
“Then we find out what happened fifteen years ago.”
“And if we don’t?”
Her expression hardened.
“Then whoever sent you that message wins.”
Elias slipped the drive into his pocket.
He had come to Sophia’s office expecting another business meeting.
Instead, he had walked into a mystery involving his dead father, her family, and a secret someone had spent fifteen years trying to bury.
He looked at Sophia.
“You could have told me all this yesterday.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you?”
She held his gaze.
“Because I needed to know whether you’d stay.”
Elias frowned.
“And now?”
Sophia’s voice dropped.
“Now I know.”
For the first time, Elias couldn’t tell whether she was talking about the contract—
or him.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD