Chapter 1 - The Bloody Ledger
Arthur reached into a pocket.
He did not pull out a weapon.
He pulled out a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills stained with dried blood.
He tossed the money onto the small mattress.
"Buy a new rug."
His voice was entirely devoid of the desperation he had shown in the middle of the night.
"And forget I was ever down here."
He turned and walked out of the tiny basement room without looking back.
Norah let out a breath she felt she had been holding for hours.
She picked up the ruined, blood-soaked suit jacket he had left on the floor.
It needed to be destroyed in the basement incinerator immediately.
As she lifted the heavy wool fabric, something hard knocked against her knee.
She frowned and felt the inner lining of the jacket.
There was a hidden pocket sewn deeply into the seam.
She reached inside and pulled out a small, black leather notebook.
The edges were scorched, and the cover was slick with fresh blood.
Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed loudly on the basement stairs.
It was Silas, Arthur’s ruthless second-in-command, followed by two armed guards.
"Search every room," Silas ordered coldly.
"The boss killed a man last night, but the financial ledger is missing."
Norah’s heart stopped completely.
She quickly shoved the black notebook deep into the waistband of her pajama pants and pulled her oversized shirt down.
She grabbed her cleaning bucket just as Silas pushed her door open.
His cold, dead eyes scanned the small room before settling on her face.
"Did you see the boss last night, cleaner?"
Norah forced herself to look incredibly bored.
"I sleep down here, Mr. Silas."
"I don't see anything."
Silas narrowed his eyes, stepping intimidatingly closer to her.
"See that you keep it that way."
He turned and left the room, leaving the door wide open.
Norah waited until their footsteps faded before she pulled the bloody notebook from her waistband.
She carefully opened the front cover.
Her stomach violently dropped to the floor.
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Written on the very first page, next to a massive debt of half a million dollars, was the name Thomas Bennett.
It was her dead father's name.
