Chapter 5 - The Hidden Ledger
Chapter 5 - The Hidden Ledger
The guests were pacified with free champagne and a roaring fire in the grand fireplace, utterly unaware of how close we had come to disaster. But I couldn't rest. If Thomas was willing to sabotage the heating system, there was no telling what he would do next to destroy the lodge before he could be arrested.
At 2:00 AM, while the lodge slept under the howling blizzard, I crept into Thomas’s executive office. It was a dark, oppressive room that smelled of stale cigars. I knew my grandfather had installed a hidden floor safe beneath the Persian rug. If Thomas had used this office, he might have used the safe to hide the master ledger—the physical book where he kept the real numbers, separate from the digital files I had hacked.
I rolled back the heavy rug and knelt on the floorboards, feeling for the hidden latch. Click. The panel popped open, revealing the steel dial of the safe. My grandfather’s birthday. 1-0-2-4.
The heavy door swung open. Inside lay a black leather-bound book and a stack of manila folders.
"Looking for this?" a voice sneered behind me.
I whipped around. Julian was standing in the doorway, a heavy brass fire poker in his hand. His eyes were bloodshot, frantic with desperation.
"Julian, you’re supposed to be gone," I said, slowly standing up, keeping the black ledger behind my back.
"I couldn't leave! The roads are closed!" Julian stepped into the room, raising the poker. "Thomas promised me a life, Elena! He promised me millions! And you took it away. Give me the book. It’s my only leverage to make Thomas pay me off."
"Julian, think about what you're doing," I reasoned, my voice calm but my pulse racing. "If you hurt me, you go to prison for a very long time."
"I'm already ruined!" he shouted, taking a swing at my desk, shattering a glass lamp. "Give it to me!"
He lunged at me. I braced for impact, closing my eyes, but the blow never came.
A heavy thwack echoed in the room. I opened my eyes to see Julian crumpled on the floor. Standing over him, breathing heavily, was Alexander. He had hit Julian with the heavy oak doorstop.
"I heard shouting," Alexander said, looking at Julian with utter disgust. He looked at me, his eyes softening instantly. "Are you hurt?"
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"No," I whispered, clutching the ledger to my chest. I looked at the man who had come to steal my company, realizing he had just saved my life. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," Alexander said softly. "We have a lot of work to do if we're going to save this place."
