Chapter 8 - What Vadim Found Beneath the Floor
Vadim shoved Elara behind the cabinet.
A shot exploded.
His men returned fire.
Cassandra screamed.
The attacker fled through the rear exit.
Vadim pursued him but returned minutes later empty-handed.
Elara barely noticed.
She was still holding Evelyn's letter.
Gerald Fagan is not your biological father.
Every cruel comment suddenly changed shape.
Not justification.
Never justification.
But context.
She read further.
Evelyn had loved another man before Gerald.
His name was Daniel Mercer.
Gerald knew Elara might not be his child.
A DNA test confirmed it when Elara was four.
Evelyn wrote that Gerald's behavior changed afterward.
He never struck Elara.
He did something quieter.
He spent years convincing her she should be grateful anyone tolerated her.
Vadim read the letter after she offered it.
His hands tightened.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“All those years.”
“Yes.”
Cassandra cried openly.
“Elara, I didn't know.”
Elara looked at her sister.
For the first time she understood Cassandra had also been a child inside Gerald's system.
A different child.
A different cage.
“I know.”
Cassandra hugged her.
Elara stiffened.
Then hugged her back.
The final page contained another clue.
Evelyn had hidden original North Star ownership documents beneath the floor of her old lake house.
Gerald had sold the property after her death.
Vadim bought it back before sunrise.
Money, Elara was learning, could make bureaucracy remarkably efficient.
They reached the house at noon.
The floorboards beneath Evelyn's old study had been replaced.
Someone had searched before them.
But not carefully enough.
Vadim found a second compartment beneath a support beam.
Inside were original trust documents.
And a ledger.
The ledger documented payments from Gerald to Viktor.
Dates.
Amounts.
Instructions.
One payment occurred two days before Evelyn's death.
Another two days before Alexei Sokolov's.
Elara stared.
“This proves it?”
“Not murder,” Vadim said. “But enough to begin.”
A final envelope contained Daniel Mercer's address.
Elara did not open it immediately.
Vadim sat beside her on the dusty floor.
“You don't have to find him.”
“I know.”
“You don't owe him anything.”
“I know.”
“What do you want?”
Nobody asked Elara that often enough.
She looked at him.
“I want to know whether he knew I existed.”
Vadim nodded.
“Then we'll find out.”
She noticed dust on his cheek.
Without thinking, she brushed it away.
Both froze.
Her hand remained against his face.
Vadim did not move.
Elara's heart pounded.
He could have kissed her.
She knew it.
He did not.
“Why do you always wait?” she whispered.
“Because nobody waited for you before.”
Her eyes burned.
She moved closer.
Then stopped.
Not yet.
Vadim smiled faintly.
“Not yet is allowed.”
She lowered her hand.
For once, embarrassment did not follow.
That evening, they located Daniel Mercer.
He lived in Wisconsin.
Retired veterinarian.
Widowed.
No children listed.
Elara called.
A man answered.
“Hello?”
She could not speak.
Vadim stood several feet away, giving her privacy without leaving.
“Hello?” Daniel repeated.
“My name is Elara.”
Silence.
Then a sound like someone sitting down too quickly.
“Elara Fagan?”
Her breath caught.
“You know my name.”
The man began crying.
“I've waited twenty-six years for this call.”
Elara closed her eyes.
Then a crash sounded through the phone.
“Daniel?”
No answer.
“Daniel?”
A man's unfamiliar voice came onto the line.
“Mrs. Sokolov.”
Elara went cold.
“Who is this?”
May you like
“Tell your husband Viktor wants the ledger.”
Then the line went dead.
