CHAPTER 6 – THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
CHAPTER 6 – THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The tape ended with static.
No farewell.
No explanation.
Only silence.
Liam remained seated for nearly five minutes.
His entire childhood had been built on one belief:
His parents had searched endlessly for him.
Now another possibility stood before him.
What if someone had made sure he never found Martha again?
At sunrise, Liam walked into Vance Corporation.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Employees stopped talking.
Some had already heard about David Collins' suspension.
Others whispered about the CEO personally visiting a junior designer's apartment.
Rumors spread through every department.
But Liam ignored them all.
He entered the executive archives.
"Open every family record."
The archivist blinked.
"Sir?"
"My father's personal files."
"I'm afraid those are sealed."
Liam stared at him.
"I'm Liam Vance."
"If they're sealed..."
"I'll unseal them."
Three hours later...
Boxes filled the conference room.
Contracts.
Property deeds.
Private correspondence.
Most of it was ordinary.
Until Liam found a financial ledger from twenty years earlier.
One payment stood out.
Cash Withdrawal — $50,000
Authorized by:
Charles Vance
Purpose:
Community Settlement
No further details.
The date matched the exact week Liam had gone missing.
Before Liam could investigate further, Marcus rushed into the room.
"Sir."
"We have a problem."
"What happened?"
Marcus placed a folder on the table.
"Our investigators tracked the black SUV."
"It was stolen."
"No fingerprints."
"No plates."
"But..."
He opened another photograph.
"We recovered traffic footage."
The driver's face was partially visible.
Emily gasped.
"I know him."
Liam looked at her.
"You do?"
"He came to our apartment."
"When?"
"The day after my mother's funeral."
"He said he worked for a charity."
"He asked if my mother had left behind any letters."
"What did you tell him?"
"I said no."
Marcus's expression darkened.
"He lied."
"There is no charity."
Liam's jaw tightened.
"He was already searching for the box."
Across town...
Inside a luxury nursing facility...
An elderly man watched the morning news.
The headline read:
CEO Liam Vance Launches Internal Corruption Investigation.
The old man's hands began to shake.
He reached for a locked drawer.
Inside lay another blue origami flower.
He whispered to himself,
"I hoped this day would never come."
His nurse entered.
"Mr. Harrison?"
He looked up.
"Call my lawyer."
"And..."
He hesitated.
"Find Liam Vance."
"I don't have much time."
That evening, Liam received an unexpected message.
No sender.
No number.
Only a photograph.
It showed him as an eight-year-old boy sitting beside Martha in her tiny apartment.
A picture that should not have existed.
Below it were nine chilling words:
Stop digging... or Emily dies before the truth lives.
Liam's face went ice-cold.
This was no longer about recovering the past.
Someone was willing to kill to keep it buried.
May you like
And somewhere in Chicago...
Emily had no idea that, at that very moment, a hired assassin had begun following her train home.
