Chapter 17 - THE LAST LIE RYAN TOLD|
We reached the depot just after midnight.
The building was surrounded by old freight cars and rusted machinery. Our team had secured the perimeter, but Ryan had positioned himself near the tracks with Eleanor beside him.
He held a gun in one hand and the ledger in the other.
"Stop there, Evan!"
I raised my hands.
Jenna stepped forward.
"Ryan, let my mother go."
He smiled at her.
"You always did think the world could be fixed by asking nicely."
"Let her go."
"Give me the ledger."
"You already have it."
"Not the original."
He lifted the book.
"This is a copy. Thomas was clever enough to keep the real one somewhere else."
Margaret, who had come with us, stiffened.
"That's impossible."
Ryan looked at her.
"Hello, Aunt Margaret. I wondered when you'd show up."
Jenna turned toward her aunt.
"You know him?"
Margaret's face had gone pale.
"Yes."
Ryan laughed.
"She knows me very well. She was the first person who taught me how to disappear."
The words struck me as strange.
"Explain."
Ryan looked at Jenna.
"My father worked for Voss. When I was sixteen, he died in a prison cell. Everyone said it was suicide. Margaret helped me escape the people who wanted to use me after that."
Margaret stepped forward.
"I helped you survive. I didn't help you become this."
"You taught me that the powerful never tell the truth unless it benefits them."
"And you decided to become worse than they were?"
Ryan's expression twisted.
"I decided never to be helpless again."
Jenna stared at him.
"Is that why you kept contacting me? Why you pretended you wanted to marry me?"
"At first, yes."
The answer was so blunt that she flinched.
Ryan continued.
"Your father hid the ledger, and your family was the only way to find it. I thought if I married you, I could search everything without raising suspicion."
"You never loved me."
"I wanted to."
"No," she said. "You wanted to own me."
For the first time, Ryan looked uncertain.
Then he raised the gun toward Eleanor.
"Enough. The ledger, Evan. Now."
I held up the case from the warehouse.
"Let her go first."
Ryan shook his head.
"You think I'm stupid?"
"No. I think you're frightened."
His eyes flashed.
I continued.
"Voss used you. Henry used you. Everyone you've ever worked for has treated you as disposable. You came here believing the ledger would make you powerful enough that no one could control you again."
Ryan's grip tightened.
"You know nothing about me."
"Then prove me wrong. Let her go."
For a moment, I thought he might lower the weapon.
Then a second gunshot cracked through the depot.
Eleanor screamed.
Ryan staggered, blood spreading across his shoulder.
A figure emerged from behind a freight car.
Victor Voss.
Older than the photographs, but still carrying the same cold confidence.
"Thank you for gathering everyone in one place," he said.
He pointed his weapon at me.
"Now we can finish what your father started."
Jenna grabbed my hand.
Voss smiled.
"Put down the case, Evan. Or I'll kill the woman you love."
I set the case on the ground.
Voss nodded to his men.
They seized it and opened it.
Inside were decoy documents.
His smile disappeared.
I looked at him.
"The real ledger isn't here."
Voss raised his gun.
"Then tell me where it is."
Jenna stepped beside me.
"Not until you tell us who really killed my father."
Voss looked at her.
Then he smiled.
"Your father, Jenna, wasn't killed because he discovered the money."
May you like
He tilted his head.
"He was killed because he discovered who you really are."
