Chapter 6 - The Ledger of the Forgotten
Inside the safe lay three thick, leather-bound books with yellowed pages, alongside dozens of encrypted storage drives and stacks of original, unredacted adoption certificates.
Vance carefully pulled out the top leather book and opened it.
The pages were filled with neat, precise handwriting—Vivian’s handwriting. Names, dates, bank wire numbers, and dollar amounts.
Child #88: Sarah Miller. Age 5. Transferred to Geneva account #4409. $120,000. Child #92: David Chen. Age 7. Transferred to Cayman account #8812. $150,000. Child #104: Clara Hale. Age 6. Retained for trust fund liquidation.
Vance looked at me, his eyes wide with horror as he read the cold, commercial entries. "It's all here. Every child, every transaction, every offshore account number spanning three decades."
Tears blurred my vision, but I forced myself to look at my own name on that page.
I was Child #104. She had kept me at the orphanage just long enough to process my father's life insurance payout, then sold me to a black-market broker when she realized my trust fund required me to reach twenty-one to pay out.
"This isn't just evidence for a trial, Marcus," I whispered, my voice cracking with emotion. "These are names. These are children who grew up never knowing who they were."
"We'll find them," Vance promised fiercely, holding the ledger like it was holy scripture. "Every single one of them that's still out there. This book gives us the wire transfers and the receiving agencies. Our international task force can trace them now."
Suddenly, a loud radio squawk broke the silence of the basement.
"Agent Vance! We have a breach at the perimeter!" the officer's voice crackled through Vance's radio. "Black SUV just rammed the carriage house gate! Shots fired!"
Before Vance could respond, the sound of automatic gunfire echoed down from the driveway above.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
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"Cover!" Vance yelled, drawing his sidearm and standing in front of me as concrete dust rained down from the ceiling.
Vivian’s network wasn't just her and Julian. The international buyers who had funded her for thirty years realized the ledger had been discovered—and they were sending mercenaries to burn it to the ground.
