THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL HEIR

Chapter 2 – The Ledger and the Lie

The building looked abandoned,its windows boarded, paint peeling, and the fire escape rusted to hell. But Jeffrey didn’t trust appearances. Appearances had gotten him almost killed once.

Victor parked the black SUV two blocks away, killed the lights, and handed Jeffrey a small comms earpiece. “Third floor. You sure you want to go in alone?”

Jeffrey fixed the earpiece and nodded. “No backup. If it’s a trap, I want them to think I took the bait.”

Victor frowned. “I don’t like this. Someone already killed the informant. We’re walking into a nest.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Jeffrey stepped out into the night, coat flaring behind him as the wind picked up again,same wind from the funeral, only colder.

The red brick building stood like a forgotten relic of another life. One of the windows on the third floor was cracked open, just enough to let someone in without breaking it further, Convenient,  Too convenient, He climbed the fire escape silently, boots making no sound on the rusted steel. At the top, he paused.

A security tripwire had been placed across the window frame.Sloppy. Rushed. But lethal.He snipped the wire with his blade and slipped inside.

Dust and silence blanketed the apartment like death. A cracked television sat on the floor beside a broken chair. Cigarette butts overflowed from a tin can. Rotting food containers lined the sink.

But no one.Not yet.He moved quickly, heading toward the bedroom. Just like the informant said,closet on the left wall. Jeffrey stepped inside and rapped on the wall three times. Hollow.

He pressed his hand against the back and felt the edge of a false panel.With a tug, the panel popped loose,and behind it, a small fireproof safe.

He pulled it free and laid it on the floor, brushing off years of dust. His fingers hovered over the keypad. The informant hadn’t given a code. “Victor, I’ve got the safe,” he whispered into the mic.

“Copy that. Want me to try cracking it remotely?”

Jeffrey was about to reply when he heard it, the soft creak of a floorboard behind him, He spun, Nothing, But his instincts screamed. Jeffrey stepped back just as the bedroom door exploded inward and a figure lunged from the shadows.

The man was masked, muscular, dressed in tactical gear. A stun baton in one hand. A blade in the other.Jeffrey dodged the first strike, barely missing the arc of electricity aimed for his ribs. The blade came next, a low sweep meant to disable.

He blocked it with his forearm,pain lanced up his elbow, but he didn’t stop moving. Years of underground fights, ambushes, and backroom kills had honed him into more than a businessman.

He was a survivor. A weapon.He caught the man by the arm, slammed him into the wall, and delivered a brutal knee to the gut. The masked attacker dropped the baton.

Jeffrey went for it,but the attacker kicked out his leg, and they both crashed to the floor.The fight turned primal,fists, knees, elbows. The sound of grunts and furniture breaking filled the apartment.

Victor’s voice barked in his ear. “Talk to me!”Jeffrey pinned the attacker’s arm, twisted, and slammed his fist into the side of his head.The mask cracked.He ripped it off.And froze.It was Camilla.

Her nose was bloodied, lip split. But her eyes… her eyes were filled with fury. “Camilla?” he breathed. “What the hell are you?”

She shoved him off with surprising strength and rolled to her feet, grabbing the blade.“I told you not to come back,” she snarled.

Jeffrey stood, breath ragged. “You’ve been following me.”

She wiped the blood from her mouth. “You should’ve stayed dead.”

He didn’t move. “Why are you here?”

“I came for the ledger. The one that can burn every family in Ravenport to the ground,including mine.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re working for them?”

“I’m working to keep people alive, Jeffrey.” Her voice cracked. “You don’t know what’s in that ledger. If it leaks, it won’t just be the Goodmans who fall.”

She pointed the blade at him. “Step away from the safe.”

He didn’t flinch. “You’re not going to stab me, Camilla.”

She shook. Not with fear, but with the conflict behind her eyes. “I already betrayed you once,” she whispered. “Don’t make me do it again.”

Jeffrey stepped forward slowly. “Then tell me the truth. Did you know what they planned? What Eleanor and Zane were doing to my father?”

Silence. He saw it in her face,the guilt. The burden. “Yes,” she said. “But not until it was too late.”

That was all it took.Jeffrey reached down, picked up the safe, and walked past her.She didn’t stop him.But as he reached the hallway, she called out behind him.

“Jeffrey, you don’t understand. You think you’re fighting the Goodman family,but they’re just the front. There’s someone else pulling the strings.”He turned halfway.

“Who?”But her answer was cut off,by the sound of a sniper rifle.

Glass shattered.Camilla screamed.Jeffrey tackled her to the ground just as the bullet embedded itself in the wall where her head had been.Another shot rang out.The lights burst above them.

“Victor!” Jeffrey shouted. “We’re under fire,get the car ready!”

“On my way!”

Jeffrey grabbed Camilla’s hand and yanked her to her feet. “We’re not done,” he growled.

Camilla stared at him, breathing hard, then nodded.They ran.Bullets chased them through the apartment, through the stairwell, down into the alley where Victor screeched the SUV to a halt.

They dove inside.As Victor sped off, tires screeching, Camilla clutched her side, blood stained her fingers. “You’re hit,” Jeffrey said.

“I’ll live.”

He stared at her, chest heaving. “Who wants this ledger so badly they’ll kill both of us?”

She looked at him.And said the name that made Jeffrey’s blood freeze. “Your father’s oldest friend. The one who taught you to fight. The one who was at the funeral today.”

Jeffrey’s eyes narrowed. “You’re telling me… Henry Vance?”

Camilla nodded and then, his phone buzzed. One new message. ''You’re too close. Walk away or she dies next time.''

Jeffrey looked at Camilla, then the safe in his hands and finally, at the message. he didn’t blink, he typed two words. ''Try me''.