All Chapters of The CEO's Intern : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

I watched the video three more times.Each time, I noticed something different.My father's expression.Elliot's hesitation.The way Elliot looked toward Room 417 before handing my father the small object.And the way my father immediately hid it.Whatever Elliot had given him, my father had known it was important.But I still didn't know what it was.I paused the video."Can you enlarge this?"Luca leaned closer to the screen."I'm trying."The image became grainy.Elliot's hand appeared.The object was small.Dark.Possibly metal.There was a faint mark on it.I squinted."Wait.""What?""Go back."Luca rewound the video."There."I pointed at the screen.Something was engraved on the object.A symbol.A circle surrounding a narrow vertical line.My stomach dropped."I've seen that before."Luca looked at me."Where?""The watch."He frowned."What watch?""The man in the photograph."I pulled the photograph from my bag.I placed it beside the laptop.The symbol on the watch matched

I kept thinking about the message long after I put my phone down.ASK WHY YOUR FATHER WAS TRUSTED WITH IT.It was a fair question.Maybe the most important one I'd found so far.I'd spent days asking what happened on June 17.Who was in Room 417.What was inside the black folder.Who had the key.Where Elliot Hayes went.But I had never asked the question that came before all of it.Why my father?Why would Richard Romano trust Richard Williams with something important enough to be hidden from his own sons?I needed to find out what my father had been doing before June 2008.And I knew exactly where to start.The company records.---I arrived at Romano Enterprises before nine.The lobby was already crowded, but I barely noticed anyone.I went straight to the archives.This time, I wasn't searching for June 17.I searched for my father's entire employment history.Richard Williams.His employee file appeared.Financial Operations.Start date: March 2004.I stared at the screen.Four y

I read the sentence again.Richard Williams refused to return what had been entrusted to him.My hands tightened around the photocopied page.It was the first piece of evidence I'd found that directly accused my father.Not a rumor.Not an anonymous message.Not someone's vague recollection of eighteen years ago.A written record.And somehow, it made everything more confusing.Because I'd already seen another record.RETURNED JUNE 18.Then there was the photograph.My father.Elliot.The message I'd received.HE DIDN'T GIVE IT TO YOUR FATHER. YOUR FATHER GAVE IT TO HIM.And now this.REFUSED TO RETURN.Which one was the lie?I looked around the dark archive room.The envelope was still in my hand.Whoever had left it wanted me to find it.That much was obvious.But they hadn't given me the original.Only a photocopy.Why?Because the original didn't exist?Or because they didn't want me to know where it was?I slipped the page into my notebook.Then I turned toward the door.The ligh

I couldn't stop looking at the photograph.June 12, 2008.Six days before everything supposedly went wrong.My father stood beside Richard Romano, holding the small dark object.The key.Or whatever it was.Adrian stood on the other side of them.And Elliot watched from the background.Four people.One object.One date.And eighteen years of unanswered questions.I turned the photograph over again.THIS WAS BEFORE HE WAS TRUSTED.The words wouldn't leave my mind.Before he was trusted.What did that mean?My father already worked for the Romano family.He already had access to confidential information.So what happened on June 12 that changed everything?I looked at Luca."Who took this?""I don't know.""Where?""Probably here.""Who wrote the message?""I don't know."I sighed."You say that a lot.""So do you."I almost smiled.Almost.Then I noticed something in the photograph."Wait."Luca leaned closer.I pointed toward my father's hand."The object.""What about it?""It's not

I didn't sleep.The photograph stayed on my bedside table all night.My grandfather.A woman I'd never seen before.A little girl wearing the Romano symbol.And six words that had changed everything.We promised to keep them safe.Safe from what?And who were them?I kept returning to the same question.If the photograph was taken in 1988, why had no one ever told me about it?My grandfather had died years ago.My father had never mentioned the Romano family outside of work.And my mother had never spoken about any connection between our family and theirs.Maybe they hadn't known.Or maybe they'd both been protecting the same secret.---The next morning, I took the photograph to Romano Enterprises.I didn't show it to anyone.Not even Luca.Not yet.I needed to know exactly what I was holding before I gave someone else the chance to explain it for me.I went straight to the old property records.The photograph showed my grandfather standing outside a brick building.I searched the ad