"Maya, it's me. Open up."
She unlocked the door and stepped back, looking terrified.
I walked past her to the old, heavy iron safe sitting in the corner.
I spun the dial, entering the combination I had memorized twenty years ago.
The heavy door clicked and swung open.
I reached into the back of the safe and pulled out a small, locked metal cash box.
I used a small key from my keyring to open it.
Inside were the original property deeds from 1999, my military discharge papers, and a small, leather-bound ledger.
The ledger was the real reason Declan was here.
It was the private book Calvin Vance had used to record every illegal transaction, every bribe, and every stolen dollar.
I had found it hidden behind the false wall in the basement the day I bought the property.
I had never shown it to anyone, not even Marcus, because the ledger contained names of people in town who had been forced to pay Calvin protection money.
I wanted to protect them.
I opened the ledger to the final page, expecting to see the last entry Calvin had made before his arrest.
My heart dropped into my stomach.
The last three pages of the ledger had been violently torn out.
The jagged edges of the paper were still fresh.
I stared at the torn binding, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of my neck.
I hadn't opened this safe in five years.
No one else knew the combination.
No one else knew this ledger existed.
How could the pages be missing?
I looked around the small office, my eyes scanning the room for any sign of a break-in.
Everything was in its place.
The window was locked.
The safe hadn't been forced.
I walked over to my desk and shined my flashlight across the surface.
Underneath a stack of old invoices, I saw a small piece of torn paper.
I pulled it out.
It was a fragment from the missing ledger pages.
There was only one line of handwriting visible on the torn scrap.
It read: "Payment received. 10/14/99. Delivered by M."
My pulse hammered in my ears.
October 14th, 1999.
That was exactly five years after the ambush in the valley.
It was the exact day I had bought this property at the county auction.
But who was "M"?
Suddenly, Maya's phone rang, shattering the silence in the room.
She jumped, gasping in shock, before answering it.
"Hello?" she said, her voice trembling.
She listened for a few seconds, her face draining of all color.
"He's in the office," she whispered into the phone.
She slowly lowered the device and looked at me, her eyes filled with absolute terror.
"That was my neighbor," Maya said, her voice cracking. "Someone just backed a truck through the front window of my house. They smashed everything."
Rage boiled up inside me.
Declan wasn't just threatening me.
He was targeting the people I cared about to force my hand.
"We're leaving," I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the door. "We can't wait for Marcus. We have to go get your son from daycare and get out of this county."
"But my car is out back," Maya said, panicking.
"We'll take my truck," I replied.
I led her out of the office and down the dark hallway.
We reached the front dining room, the shadows stretching long and distorted across the floor.
I walked toward the front door, my keys in hand.
Before I could reach the lock, the landline phone behind the counter began to ring.
It was a harsh, mechanical ringing that echoed loudly in the dark diner.
I stopped.
I looked at the glowing green Caller ID screen on the wall.
The number displayed was blocked.
I walked slowly behind the counter and picked up the receiver.
"Hello," I said, my voice dangerously low.