The door shook again.
Then a voice came from outside.
“David Sawyer!”
Whitney recognized it.
Gerald.
“You've hidden long enough!”
David looked at Whitney.
His face was filled with fear.
“Don't let him get the ledger.”
The door exploded inward.
Several men rushed into the bookstore.
Victor pushed Whitney behind the desk.
David ran toward the back exit.
Gerald entered last.
He looked directly at Whitney.
“Give me the ledger.”
Whitney held it tightly.
“No.”
Gerald's expression became cold.
“You don't understand what you're holding.”
Whitney stared at him.
“I understand enough.”
Gerald stepped closer.
“You think your father is innocent?”
Whitney looked at David.
Gerald laughed.
“He isn't.”
David shouted:
“Don't listen to him!”
Gerald pointed toward him.
“Ask your father where he was the night Li Wei died.”
Whitney looked at David.
Her father's face had gone completely pale.
She whispered:
“Dad?”
David closed his eyes.
Gerald smiled.
“Go ahead.”
Whitney's hands trembled.
“Where were you?”
David finally opened his eyes.
“I was there.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
David looked at Whitney.
And for the first time, she saw genuine terror in his eyes.
“I watched someone else do it.”
“Who?”
David looked toward Gerald.
Then Victor.
Then the ledger.
Finally, he whispered:
“It was someone you never suspected.”
Whitney stared.
“Who?”
David's lips trembled.
“Your grandmother.”
The world seemed to stop.
Whitney couldn't breathe.
Gerald smiled.
Victor went completely still.
And somewhere outside the bookstore, a car engine roared to life.
Because the truth Whitney had spent her entire life searching for was about to become far more complicated than she ever imagined.
Victor did not answer Whitney's question.
That frightened her more than any answer could have.
“Where is Claire?”
Victor looked toward the temple.
Then toward the road.
Finally, he said quietly:
“I don't know.”
Whitney narrowed her eyes.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“You knew about her.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was connected to Gerald.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was in that photograph.”
Victor's silence confirmed it.
Whitney stepped closer.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know what she had done.”
“You knew enough to hide it.”
Victor looked exhausted.
“Whitney, listen to me.”
“No.”
She held up the photograph.
“I've been listening to everyone all night.”
She pointed at the woman standing between Gerald and Victor.
“My grandmother trusted her.”
Victor nodded.
“Yes.”
“And now someone tells me she betrayed my grandmother.”
“Yes.”
“Who am I supposed to believe?”
Victor stared at her.
“Nobody.”
Whitney frowned.
“What?”
“Not yet.”
He pointed toward the photograph.
“That's the only advice I can give you.”
Whitney looked down.
The three people in the picture seemed frozen in time.
Gerald.
Victor.
Claire.
And behind them, barely visible through a window, was another figure.
Whitney hadn't noticed him before.
She zoomed in with her phone.
A man.
Dark suit.
Gray hair.
Her breath stopped.
“That's him.”
Victor looked.
“Who?”
“My father.”
Victor stared at the photograph.
Then his face changed.
“That can't be.”
“Why?”
“Because this photograph was taken after David disappeared.”
Whitney looked at him.
“Then how is he there?”
Victor didn't answer.
Whitney suddenly understood.
Someone had been lying about the timeline.
Maybe everyone had.
She turned toward the car.
“Dad.”
David stepped out.
He saw the photograph.
His face went pale.
“Where did you get that?”
“Grandma's mailbox.”
David took the photograph from her.
His hands shook.
“I haven't seen this in thirty years.”
“You're in it.”
“Yes.”
“And so are Gerald, Victor, and Claire.”
David stared at the image.
“I remember this night.”
Whitney's heart raced.
“What happened?”
David looked toward the temple.
“Your grandmother called me.”
“When?”
“The night before Li Wei died.”
“Why?”
“She said she had proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That someone inside our group was working with Gerald.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Who?”
David looked at him.
“You.”
Victor's face tightened.
David continued.
“Evelyn didn't trust you anymore.”
Whitney looked at Victor.
“But the photograph shows you with her.”
David nodded.
“She wanted to know why you had been meeting Gerald.”
Victor said nothing.
Whitney turned to him.
“Were you working with him?”
Victor closed his eyes.
“For a while.”
Whitney's stomach dropped.
“What does that mean?”
“I thought I could control him.”
David laughed bitterly.
“Nobody controls Gerald.”
Victor looked at him.
“I was trying to get evidence.”
“You were taking money.”
“I was undercover.”
David shook his head.
“That's what you told yourself.”
Whitney stared at Victor.
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“You took one hundred thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
“From Gerald?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“I gave most of it to Evelyn.”
Whitney froze.
“My grandmother?”
Victor nodded.
“She needed money to disappear.”
David looked at him.
“You never told me that.”
“I didn't trust you.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought you were working with Gerald.”
David's expression hardened.
“And I thought you were working with him.”
Whitney stared at them.
Two men.
Both convinced the other was a traitor.
Both secretly trying to protect Evelyn.
And somewhere between them stood Claire.
Whitney looked at the photograph again.
“What about her?”
Victor's face became grim.
“Claire was Gerald's attorney.”
Whitney blinked.
“But she was my grandmother's lawyer.”
“She worked for both.”
David shook his head.
“She was the one Evelyn trusted most.”
Whitney felt a chill.
“Why?”
“Because Claire had access to everything.”
“What everything?”
“The contracts.”
“The bank records.”
“The evidence.”
Victor's voice dropped.
“And the original recording.”
Whitney stared at him.
“You mean the recording on the USB?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“That is a copy.”
Whitney's heart pounded.
“Where is the original?”
Victor looked toward the temple.
“Claire had it.”
Whitney's eyes widened.
“Then she has the proof.”
“Yes.”
“And she's been hiding it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victor didn't answer.
David did.
“Because Claire wasn't protecting Gerald.”
Whitney looked at him.
“Then who?”
David's expression was filled with pain.
“She was protecting someone else.”
“Who?”
David looked at Whitney.