Chapter 3 - THE SECRET UNDER THE FLOOR
The next morning, Mirabelle woke in a bedroom she didn't recognize.
She sat up abruptly.
For one terrifying second, she thought she'd been kidnapped.
Then she saw Kellen sleeping in a chair beside the window.
She ran to him.
"Kellen?"
He woke instantly.
"I'm okay."
"Where are we?"
A voice answered from the doorway.
"My house."
Ronan stood there holding two cups of coffee.
Mirabelle stared.
"Your house?"
"Safe house."
"Your safe house looks like a mansion."
"It is."
Kellen looked around.
"Do you own this?"
Ronan gave him a cup.
"Yes."
Kellen stared at it.
"Can I ask how much you're worth?"
Mirabelle glared at her brother.
"Not now."
Ronan almost smiled.
"Enough."
He handed Mirabelle coffee.
She took it reluctantly.
"What happened last night?"
"Kellen was found by one of my men."
"Who had him?"
"We're still working on that."
"Brandon?"
"No."
"Victor Hale?"
Ronan's expression hardened.
"Possibly."
Mirabelle sat down.
"You said my father saved your life."
"He did."
"How?"
Ronan looked toward the window.
"Eleven years ago, I was shot."
Mirabelle listened.
"Your father found me bleeding in an alley."
"Why would he help you?"
"He didn't know who I was."
"Then why?"
"He believed a dying man deserved a chance."
Mirabelle lowered her eyes.
"That sounds like him."
Ronan continued.
"He took me to a private clinic. Paid the doctor. Then disappeared."
"Why?"
"Because the men who shot me were looking for him."
Mirabelle's heart pounded.
"My father wasn't a criminal."
"I never said he was."
"Then what was he involved in?"
Ronan didn't answer.
Kellen suddenly spoke.
"Maybe the floor knows."
Mirabelle looked at him.
"What?"
He pointed toward the coffee table.
"The watch."
Ronan placed Daniel Hayes's old silver watch on the table.
Mirabelle stared.
"There's something inside."
Ronan examined it.
The back panel had a tiny seam.
He opened it.
Inside was a miniature key.
And beneath the key, a strip of paper.
Three words were written on it.
BLUE HARBOR NINE.
Ronan's expression changed.
"That's not a location."
Mirabelle frowned.
"Then what is it?"
"A code."
"For what?"
Ronan looked at her.
"Something your father hid."
Hours later, they returned to Mirabelle's apartment with security around the building.
Ronan examined the floorboards.
He stopped near the kitchen.
"This one."
Mirabelle stared.
"That's where the flour canister was."
Ronan removed the board.
A metal box was hidden beneath it.
Mirabelle's hands trembled.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
A passport.
And a letter.
She opened it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Her father's.
Mirabelle,
If you're reading this, then I failed to keep the truth buried.
She stopped breathing.
You were never poor because I left you nothing.
I left you everything.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Ronan took the letter gently.
The next line made his expression turn deadly.
But the money belongs to the person who can prove Victor Hale betrayed me.
Mirabelle whispered:
"Why would my father leave me a fortune?"
Ronan looked at the documents.
"Because he knew someone would eventually come looking for it."
The apartment lights suddenly went out.
Kellen screamed.
A gunshot shattered the window.
Ronan grabbed Mirabelle and threw her behind the kitchen island.
Glass exploded across the room.
His men drew weapons.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Ronan moved toward the window.
On the street below, a black sedan disappeared around the corner.
He returned to Mirabelle.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
Then she saw the blood on Ronan's sleeve.
"You are."
"Not mine."
He opened his hand.
A bullet lay in his palm.
He looked at the metal box.
Someone had shot at them because they knew it existed.
Ronan closed the box.
"We leave."
"Where?"
"My estate."
Mirabelle stared at him.
May you like
"Why?"
"Because whoever is hunting your inheritance just declared war."
