Chapter 3 - The Name Hidden in Gregor’s Ledger
The first notebook contained dates.
The second contained payments.
The third contained names.
Elias spent three hours photographing everything.
Then he stopped.
“Ronan.”
Ronan crossed the room.
Iris watched his expression change.
“What?”
Neither man answered.
“Guys.”
Elias closed the notebook.
Too late.
Iris reached across and opened it again.
One name had been circled twice.
ISTVAN, IRIS.
She went cold.
“Why is my name there?”
Ronan took the book.
Beside her name was an amount.
$500,000.
Iris stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“We don’t know.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Use calm words when something is obviously terrible.”
Elias pulled up photographs from earlier surveillance.
One showed Gregor speaking with Victor Sarno.
Another showed an envelope changing hands.
Ronan said, “We intercepted part of a conversation last week. Gregor told Sarno he had something that could force my cooperation.”
Iris’s stomach tightened.
“Me?”
“We didn’t know.”
“Now you do.”
Ronan said nothing.
Iris stood.
“My father sold me?”
“We don’t know that.”
“Half a million dollars beside my name feels unusually specific.”
She walked toward the window.
Ronan followed but stopped several feet away.
“Gregor may have intended to use you as leverage.”
“Against you? I didn’t even know you yesterday.”
“That’s the problem.”
She turned.
“What problem?”
Ronan looked toward Elias.
“Tell her.”
Elias hesitated.
“Gregor knew you’d eventually run.”
Iris stared.
“He told Sarno that if you escaped the house, you’d look for someone powerful enough to stand between you and him.”
“That’s insane.”
Ronan’s expression remained unreadable.
“Your father has spent years studying powerful people.”
Iris looked at him.
“And somehow I found you.”
“Yes.”
“Coincidence?”
“That’s what bothers me.”
Iris’s anger sharpened.
“You think Gregor planned last night?”
“I think we need to consider it.”
She remembered her father’s face across the street.
Fear.
But perhaps not surprise.
“Why would he do that?”
“To get you close to me.”
Iris stepped backward.
“And now I’m living in your apartment.”
“Yes.”
“Looking at your records.”
“Yes.”
“Meeting your people.”
“Yes.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Fantastic.”
“Iris.”
“What?”
“You are not responsible for what your father planned.”
“I know.”
Her answer surprised him.
She continued, “But I am responsible for what I do next.”
Ronan studied her.
“And what’s that?”
“We find out whether I was supposed to spy on you without knowing it.”
Elias spoke from behind them.
“I may know how.”
He opened the final page of Gregor’s notebook.
A date was written there.
Tomorrow.
Beside it:
M – 11:30. R.M.
Iris frowned.
“What’s M?”
Ronan knew immediately.
“The Monarch.”
“What is that?”
“A hotel.”
Elias nodded.
“Gregor has a meeting tomorrow night.”
“With Sarno?”
“Probably.”
Iris looked between them.
“Then let’s hear what they say.”
Ronan shook his head.
“No.”
Iris smiled without humor.
“You’re adorable when you forget who you’re talking to.”
“You’re not going near them.”
“My name is in that book.”
“Exactly.”
“And my entire life has been shaped by whatever Gregor was hiding.”
“Iris—”
“I’m going.”
Ronan’s voice lowered.
“I won’t use you as bait.”
Her expression changed.
Because that was exactly what Gregor would have done.
Ronan saw it.
“I won’t,” he repeated.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Finally Iris said, “Then don’t use me.”
May you like
She closed the notebook.
“Help me make my own choice.”
