Chapter 10 - THE SIN OF RHETT'S FATHER
Rhett watched the video twice.
Both times, his face remained unreadable.
Isa knew him well enough now to understand that meant he was furious.
“My father ordered Samuel’s death.”
The words sounded unnatural in his mouth.
Isa said nothing.
Evelyn’s recording continued.
Victor Valin had secretly discovered Samuel planned to turn evidence over to federal prosecutors.
Victor feared the investigation would destroy his legitimate companies along with Gideon’s network.
So he made a decision.
Silence Samuel.
Protect the empire.
Rhett closed the laptop.
“I’m sorry.”
Isa stared at him.
“You didn’t do it.”
“My family did.”
“You’re not your father.”
His eyes lifted.
For the first time since Isa had known Rhett Valin, he looked uncertain.
“You don’t know what I am.”
“I know you found me on a kitchen floor and called a doctor instead of asking what trouble I’d caused.”
“That’s a low standard.”
“It was higher than the one I was used to.”
Rhett’s expression softened.
Then hardened again.
“We release everything.”
Cole looked surprised.
“The ledger implicates Victor.”
“I know.”
“It could damage Valin Holdings.”
“I know.”
“It could put people around you in prison.”
Rhett looked at Isa.
“Then they should have made better choices.”
Isa understood something then.
Rhett had inherited power.
But inheritance did not require imitation.
Mason was transferred to a secure private holding location while attorneys arranged his surrender to federal authorities.
Gideon had disappeared.
His accounts were empty.
His home abandoned.
Then a message arrived.
Video.
Gideon stood inside a dark room.
Behind him sat Andrew Mercer, awake but restrained.
Cole swore.
Gideon smiled at the camera.
“Rhett, you always were sentimental.”
He held up a small black book.
The secondary Valin ledger.
“You have something I want. I have something you want.”
Rhett’s jaw tightened.
Gideon continued.
“Bring Isa and Evelyn’s memory card to the old Halsted freight terminal at midnight.”
Isa shook her head.
“He wants me because I know what’s on it.”
“No,” Rhett said.
He replayed one section.
Gideon had said bring Isa first.
Then the memory card.
Separate items.
“He wants you for something else.”
They searched Evelyn’s files again.
There.
A final encrypted folder.
ISA.
Password protected.
Cole tried every digital method.
Nothing.
Isa stared at the prompt.
Then remembered a childhood phrase her mother used whenever she tucked her into bed.
“Safe enough to dream.”
She typed it.
The folder opened.
Inside was a scanned birth certificate.
Isa read it once.
Then again.
Her mother’s name.
Evelyn Ward.
Father:
Not Samuel Ward.
Isa stopped breathing.
May you like
The listed father was Gideon Shaw’s closest business partner.
Victor Valin.
