He looked at Eleanor, his breathing shallow and rapid.

“You are lying,” he said.

“Those ledgers were destroyed in the office fire ten years ago.”

“You burned the copies, Richard,” Eleanor said.

“Margaret had the originals moved to a secure vault in Geneva.”

“And they are arriving in Chicago tonight.”

My heart leaped in my chest.

If the ledgers existed, they would prove my father had been bribing a sitting US Senator for over a decade.

It would destroy Senator Sterling’s career and render his threats against Gabriel completely useless.

Arthur Vance leaned in and whispered something urgent in my father’s ear.

My father’s face darkened, a vein pulsing near his temple.

He looked at me, his eyes filled with a desperate, venomous hatred.

“This changes nothing,” he said, his voice a low hiss.

“Sterling will still move against Vale.”

“He has to, to save himself from whatever lies you are spinning.”

Suddenly, the elevator doors chimed again.

We all turned to look at the entrance.

The heavy brass doors slid open slowly.

A young man in a courier’s uniform stood there, holding a locked leather satchel.