Chapter Sixty Five

Emily had spent years grieving her father, but she had never anticipated seeing his name buried among the secrets of the man who had destroyed Damian's family.

For a little while, she was unable to speak. The traffic outside Sophia's office seemed strangely distant, as if the globe had retreated and left her alone with Damian's admission.

"Was your father's file in my dad's name?" Emily questioned.

"Yes," Damian said. "I found it in a collection of papers from his workplace. Although the mention was fleeting, it was dated not long before your parents passed away."

"What did it say?"

"I haven't figured out the full background yet."

Emily closed her eyes. Despite her desire to believe that he was sharing everything he knew, every conversation where he had determined what she could handle came back to her because of his measured responses.

"Damian, I need the truth, even if it hurts," Emily stated.

"I know."

"I'm not sure you do. Every time I believe we're getting closer, you expose another detail you've been keeping to yourself."

Damian kept quiet. He wanted to make it clear that his father's shame had taught him never to believe information that had no repercussions. He desired to admit that he worried about what the papers may signify for Emily, their child, and the delicate relationship that they both didn't know how to repair.

He responded, "I'm trying to make sure I understand the data before I give you a response."

Emily responded, "And I'm trying to figure out why you still think you have to do that without me."

Neither of them said anything for a while.

Finally, Damian said, "I want to keep you safe."

"And I want to feel safe when I'm around you," Emily replied.

After the call ended, the difference between the two statements remained in the air.

___

When Emily came back to her desk, Sophia was already waiting for her arrival., A sealed envelope from her parents' study was kept inside a locked folder along with Thomas Reed's statement.

Emily shared Damian's finding with her.

Before pulling a notepad closer to her, Sophia listened without interruption.

"Do you remember exactly what the paper said regarding your father?" Sophia questioned.

"No. Damian just told me that his name was in the files."

Sophia said, "Then we need the original record, not someone else's interpretation of it." "Your dad's name may signify numerous things. He might have been a business partner, a witness, or someone who looked into the transactions. We won't be able to know unless we study the proof."

Even if the ambiguity made her chest hurt, Emily nodded.

For many years since her father died, despite his faults, she was convinced that he loved her and she had kept his memory alive through the few images and stories she had. The only aspect of her childhood she had ever trusted was threatened to be difficult by the chance that he was involved in the scandal surrounding Damian's father.

"Could we question Thomas about it?" Emily said.

"We can inquire about what he knows," Sophia replied. "However, he has already admitted that danger was what prevented him from speaking out. We must provide him a cause to think that confessing the truth now is safer than hiding it."

Sophia's phone started to ring before Emily could reply.

Thomas Reed was calling.

Sophia put the call on speaker after ensuring that he was safe to discuss the issue with Emily nearby.

"I've been thinking about the envelope," Thomas said. "There's something I ought to have told you."

Emily leaned forward. "What is it?"

"The document I found under your father's desk wasn't the only thing gone from the research," Thomas said. "A ledger was also gone. Your father maintained it separately from the business's official records."

"Did you see what it was holding?" Sophia asked.

Thomas replied, "No." "However, I remember your father saying that the ledger would show where the money went. He was concerned that the official records might be changed."

Emily's hold on the desk's edge tightened even more.

"Was anything said about Damian's dad?" Emily questioned.

Thomas came to a halt before he said, "He mentioned the Knight family." "I can't tell you anything more than that in all sincerity."

Emily comprehended the distinction between a witness who withheld knowledge and one who acknowledged that he did not know, despite her frustration with the answer.

"Why didn't you inform the cops about the ledger?" Emily asked.

"Because I was concerned that the person responsible may come after you," Thomas said. "I persuaded myself that disappearing was the only method for me to shield you. I'm now aware of the price of that choice."

Emily turned her stare away. She wished she could pardon him for expressing remorse over his choice, but remorse could not make up for the years he had abandoned her without an explanation.

"Please don't disappear again," Emily said.

"I won't," Thomas vowed.

After the call ended, Sophia said that she had to get the original documents and set up a formal interview with Thomas.

"If that ledger is still there, it could connect the missing money to the people who were in charge of it," Sophia explained further.

"What if Victor is aware of it?" Emily asked.

Sophia's face became serious. Then we must presume he will do everything in his power to discover it first.

___

Damian stood in his father's previous office, examining the file that had started it all, on the other side of Manhattan.

He spent the afternoon searching the company's historical papers for the reference number of the document. Even though most of the related sites had been deleted years before, one remaining post showed that his father had planned to meet Emily's father soon before the tragic accident.

There was no proof that they had spoken.

He was only aware that the gathering had not been mentioned in the official narrative of the events that brought down his father's reputation.

Damian's phone started to ring.

But before he could ask a question, the security chief spoke.

The man said, "Sir, we have recovered the access logs from the attempted breach." "Someone used a different set of credentials to get into the archive, but the request originated in Victor's executive office."

"Credentials for whom?" asked Damian.

The chief of security paused.

"Sir, your father's."

Damian's attention was still on the document.

His father had passed away years ago.

But someone had just used his identity to access the very records that could explain why Emily's father had been meeting with him before both families were torn apart.

The head of security then disclosed one last piece of information.

“The access request included a note that pointed us to a storage facility that was registered under a different company name. The lease is still in effect.”

Damian's heart beat started to quicken.

"Who owns the establishment?" he asked.

The answer was gentle.

"Victor Knight, Sir."