Chapter 12 - THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
The silence after the gunshots was worse than the shots themselves.
Maya could hear her own heartbeat.
Fast.
Violent.
Daniel's hand remained wrapped around hers.
Vance crouched near the staircase, weapon raised.
“Stay here,” he whispered.
Maya shook her head.
“No.”
“That's not a request.”
“My father left these documents for me.”
“And whoever fired those shots knows they're here.”
Vance moved silently up the stairs.
Daniel pulled Maya behind the desk.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
But she wasn't.
The photograph of Vance and her father lay on the floor between them.
Maya couldn't stop looking at it.
Why had Alexander trusted him?
Why had Vance hidden his connection?
And why had he looked frightened when he saw the photograph?
A door slammed upstairs.
Vance shouted.
Then came a struggle.
Maya grabbed the documents.
“We need to leave.”
Daniel nodded.
They moved toward the back exit.
But before they reached it, a figure appeared at the doorway.
Maya froze.
It was a man.
Gray hair.
Black coat.
He held a pistol.
Daniel stepped in front of Maya.
The man raised his weapon.
Then stopped.
His eyes landed on Maya.
And his face changed.
“Alexander's daughter.”
Maya's blood ran cold.
“You know my father?”
The man lowered the gun.
“I knew him.”
“Who are you?”
He looked toward the stairs.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Samuel Cross.”
Vance suddenly appeared behind him.
“Samuel.”
The man's expression hardened.
“So you finally brought her here.”
Maya looked between them.
“You know each other.”
Vance said nothing.
Samuel laughed bitterly.
“Ask your colonel what happened the night your father disappeared.”
Maya turned toward Vance.
“What happened?”
Vance's jaw tightened.
Samuel answered.
“Your father discovered the military was being used to move stolen money through private contractors.”
“We know that.”
“No.”
Samuel looked at her.
“You know the official version.”
He pointed toward the documents.
“Your father discovered something much worse.”
Maya opened one of the folders.
Inside were names.
Generals.
Senators.
Judges.
Bank executives.
Corporate directors.
And beside each name were financial transfers.
Millions.
Sometimes tens of millions.
“This can't be real.”
Samuel looked at her.
“It is.”
Maya turned another page.
Then stopped.
A name appeared.
Conrad Sterling.
The same businessman whose company had been involved in the merger that had humiliated her months earlier.
Her stomach tightened.
“The Sterling family?”
Samuel nodded.
“They were part of it.”
Maya remembered Victoria.
Her arrogance.
Her cruelty.
The way she had mocked Maya without knowing anything about her.
But now Maya realized something.
Victoria hadn't simply been a cruel woman.
She had been standing inside a family whose wealth had been built partly on corruption.
“Why did my father trust you?” Maya asked Samuel.
“Because I helped him investigate.”
“Then why are you pointing a gun at us?”
Samuel lowered it completely.
“Because the people who killed Alexander are still alive.”
Vance stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Samuel looked at him.
“You're still protecting them.”
“I am protecting her.”
“No.”
Samuel's voice became bitter.
“You're protecting the institution.”
Maya looked at Vance.
“Is that true?”
Vance didn't answer immediately.
Then he said:
“Your father asked me to protect you.”
“From whom?”
“Everyone.”
Maya's eyes filled with tears.
“You knew where I was?”
Vance looked away.
“Not at first.”
“But eventually?”
“Yes.”
Her heart broke.
“You knew I was alive?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Twenty years.”
The room became silent.
Maya stepped backward.
“You knew?”
Vance's voice cracked.
“I found you when you were four.”
Maya covered her mouth.
“Then why didn't you come for me?”
“Because the people hunting your father were still watching.”
“You let me grow up thinking I was unwanted.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“That doesn't make it right!”
“No.”
Vance looked at her.
“It doesn't.”
Samuel stepped closer.
“There is one more thing you need to know.”
Maya wiped her tears.
“What?”
“Your father wasn't killed in the convoy attack.”
She froze.
“What?”
“The attack was staged.”
Vance's face hardened.
Samuel continued.
“Alexander survived.”
Maya's breath disappeared.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
Samuel looked at the floor.
“That is the question I've spent twenty-four years trying to answer.”
Maya's hands trembled.
“My father could be alive?”
“Possibly.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Why would someone fake his death?”
Samuel looked at the documents.
“Because Alexander discovered the identity of the person who ordered the operation.”
“Who?”
Samuel looked directly at Maya.
“The person was not a stranger.”
He paused.
“It was someone your father trusted more than anyone.”
Vance's face went pale.
May you like
Maya looked at him.
And for the first time, she wondered whether the man who had spent months helping her find the truth was actually the man who had helped bury it.
