Chapter 5 - The Red Ledger.
Olivia shoved Maya behind the heavy velvet curtain beside the library windows.
Adrian and Ruth slipped into the adjoining study.
Richard entered carrying a leather overnight bag.
His white tuxedo jacket was gone.
A dark stain marked one cuff of his shirt.
Olivia stood beside the fireplace, trying to steady her breathing.
“Where is Maya?” he asked.
“Why would she be here?”
Richard watched her with the patience of a predator.
“Because she called you.”
Olivia’s face twitched.
“You monitor my phone?”
“I protect this family.”
“You threatened Maya in front of everyone.”
“She forced my hand.”
“She graduated, Dad.”
The words carried something new.
Respect, perhaps.
Or shame.
Richard dropped the overnight bag on Margaret’s desk.
“You have always been too emotional after losing.”
“This is not losing.”
“My husband left the reception.”
“Then bring him back.”
“The Attorney General seized the foundation computers.”
“Then we give them another thief.”
Olivia stared at him.
“Maya?”
“She accessed the records.”
“She copied confidential files.”
“She had the credentials and the motive.”
“You forged her signature.”
Richard’s expression went still.
Behind the curtain, Maya held her breath.
“You should be careful,” he said.
Olivia’s voice shook.
“I burned the token.”
“Good.”
“But the authorization still exists.”
“Not for long.”
Richard opened the leather bag.
Inside were bottles of accelerant and a box of matches.
Olivia stepped backward.
“What are you doing?”
“Cleaning the last room your grandmother contaminated.”
Maya understood.
He planned to burn the library and destroy whatever remained.
Perhaps he planned to make Olivia part of the evidence.
Richard removed a bottle.
“Go upstairs.”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
Olivia lifted her chin, but her hands trembled against the silk robe.
“I know about the red ledger.”
Richard dropped the bottle onto the desk.
The sound was small.
The change in him was enormous.
“Who told you?”
“Grandma.”
“That is impossible.”
“She left me a letter.”
Richard crossed the room in two strides and seized Olivia’s shoulders.
“Where is it?”
Maya emerged from the curtain.
“Let her go.”
Richard spun around.
For one instant, surprise made him look old.
Then rage restored him.
“You never learned when to stop.”
“No,” Maya said.
“I learned when to begin.”
Adrian entered from the study with his phone recording.
Ruth followed.
Richard released Olivia.
“You are trespassing.”
“This is still my home.”
Maya looked around the library where Margaret had taught her chess and algebra.
“Grandma left me a share of it.”
Richard smiled.
“That will was invalid.”
“You mean the version without the missing signature page?”
His smile vanished.
Ruth stepped forward.
“I kept the original.”
Richard looked at her as though a ghost had spoken.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Adrian’s phone captured every word.
Ruth’s voice remained calm.
“You said that once before.”
The room fell silent.
Maya turned to her.
Ruth opened her coat and removed a miniature recorder.
“Margaret gave me this the week she died.”
“She asked me to document every meeting with Richard.”
The recorder held a conversation from the night before Margaret’s fall.
Richard’s voice could be heard demanding control of the foundation.
Margaret refused.
Then came a threat.
You can sign tomorrow, Mother, or you may not have another tomorrow.
Olivia covered her mouth.
Richard lunged for the recorder.
Maya intercepted him.
They struck the edge of the desk.
The accelerant bottle fell and shattered.
Sharp fumes filled the room.
Richard grabbed the matchbox.
Adrian seized his wrist.
Olivia screamed.
A match scraped against cardboard.
It ignited.
Richard smiled through the tiny flame.
“Where is the ledger?”
No one answered.
He lowered the match toward the soaked carpet.
Olivia reached behind a row of books and pulled a brass lever.
A panel beside the fireplace opened.
Inside rested a red leather book.
Richard saw it.
His face transformed.
He released the match.
Maya kicked it aside before it reached the carpet.
Adrian slammed Richard against the desk.
Ruth grabbed the ledger.
Then a gunshot cracked through the library.
The window shattered behind Maya.
Everyone froze.
Victor Lane stood outside on the terrace with a pistol raised.
May you like
His second shot struck the lamp.
Darkness swallowed the room.
