Chapter 4 - THE STORAGE UNIT
The storage facility smelled like dust and rain.
Emma stood beside Margaret while a security guard unlocked Unit 214.
Neither woman spoke.
The metal door rolled upward.
Inside were boxes.
Dozens of them.
Old photographs.
Business records.
Receipts.
A broken desk.
And a wooden trunk.
Emma's heart pounded.
Margaret walked directly toward it.
"You knew this was here."
"I suspected."
"How?"
"Your father told me before he died."
Emma stared at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you were twelve."
"You could have told me later."
"I was afraid."
"Of Daniel?"
Margaret nodded.
"Of his father."
Emma knelt beside the trunk.
The key Daniel had given them fit perfectly.
She opened it.
Inside was a leather notebook.
Emma pulled it out.
The first page contained her father's handwriting.
If anything happens to me, trust no one connected to the company.
Emma covered her mouth.
Margaret began crying.
Emma turned the page.
There were dates.
Names.
Payments.
Numbers.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Richard Mercer.
Daniel's father.
Then Emma saw another name.
Daniel Mercer.
Her stomach dropped.
"He was involved."
Margaret shook her head.
"Not then."
"He was."
"Emma, he was nineteen."
The next page contained a photograph.
Daniel as a teenager stood beside his father.
Behind them was a company office.
A man stood in the background.
Emma recognized him immediately.
Daniel.
But this photograph was taken years before she met him.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
Richard taught his son everything.
Emma's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice whispered.
"Stop looking."
Emma froze.
"Who is this?"
"You don't know what you're dealing with."
"How do you know what we're doing?"
The line went dead.
Margaret stared at her.
"Someone is watching us."
Emma looked toward the parking lot.
A black SUV sat near the entrance.
Its engine was running.
Emma grabbed the notebook.
"Mom, we're leaving."
They hurried outside.
The SUV pulled away.
Emma memorized the license plate.
Then she looked at the notebook.
"We need help."
"Who?"
Emma thought about Daniel.
Then remembered his lies.
"No one connected to him."
That night, Emma contacted a lawyer named Sarah Bennett.
Sarah listened without interrupting.
When Emma finished, Sarah looked at the notebook.
"This isn't just about fraud."
"What is it?"
Sarah turned a page.
"Your father was investigating organized financial crimes."
Emma swallowed.
"How dangerous?"
May you like
Sarah looked directly into her eyes.
"Deadly."
