The Billionaire Mafia Boss's Fiancee Made a Broke Delivery Driver Kneel in Birthday Cake - Then She Learned Who Avery Carter Used to Be

I watched Julian's video four times.

Each time, I waited for the sentence to become less ugly.

It didn't.

My father helped run it.

The man who taught me never to hit someone after they were down.

The man who returned a cashier's extra twenty dollars because "character is what you do when nobody can score the round."

Apparently he had a second life inside a criminal accounting system.

Julian's flash drive held copies of payments.

Thomas Carter's signature appeared on dozens.

Inspectors.

Doctors.

A zoning official.

A union attorney.

I shoved the laptop away.

"He was corrupt."

Dominic sat across from me in the hospital conference room.

"Maybe."

"Don't."

"You told me not to protect you from facts. I'm not. I'm telling you signatures need context."

"That's convenient coming from a man whose family name is attached to half of them."

His face tightened.

"Also fair."

I hated that he kept refusing to become the villain I needed.

Vanessa stood at the window, calling every number she had for her mother.

No answer.

Julian had included one address.

St. Agnes Church, Pilsen.

The photograph from Dad's locker showed the same basement.

We went after dark.

Father Michael Reyes opened the door and looked at me for a long time.

"You have Thomas's eyes."

"Please don't tell me you knew him too."

"I'm afraid so."

The church basement contained metal filing cabinets, an old refrigerator, and sixteen years of records copied by Dad and Julian.

Father Reyes explained the ugly part.

Thomas had worked inside the Black Ledger because he believed the only way to map the network was to become useful to it.

"He paid bribes," I said.

"Yes."

"People got hurt."

"Yes."

"So he wasn't innocent."

"No."

The honesty made it worse and better at the same time.

Dad had crossed lines while trying to expose people who crossed worse ones.

That did not clean his hands.

It made him human.

Father Reyes pulled out a sealed box.

"Thomas asked me to give this to you only if Linda became a target again."

Inside was a video recorded the day before the fire.

Dad looked exhausted.

"Avery, if you're watching this, I failed to keep you out of it. I'm sorry."

I covered my mouth.

He continued.

"The Black Ledger started as a way for Whitmore and Carlo Moretti to buy silence around Halcyon. I joined to collect proof. Then I made a mistake. I convinced myself one dirty payment could prevent something worse. Then another. That's how people like us become people like them. One exception at a time."

Dominic looked away.

Dad took a breath.

"There is one person I trust with the full ledger."

I expected June.

Maybe Mom.

Dad said, "Dominic Moretti."

I looked at him.

He looked genuinely stunned.

Then Dad added:

"Nobody does at first."

I looked at the sealed box. "I don't know how to do both."

Father Reyes leaned forward. "Loving someone isn't the same as acquitting them, Avery. You can tell the truth about what Thomas did and still love him."

My eyes burned. Every new fact about Dad had made him darker, stranger, harder to love without conditions. This stupid little story gave me something back. Not innocence. A person.

"He was still mad at the window."

"I was twelve."

"Constantly. Your medals. Your grades. The time you broke a bedroom window practicing kicks indoors."

"Did he talk about me?"

That sounded like Dad too.

Father Reyes smiled. "He said feeding people badly was still morally superior to bribing inspectors."

I laughed before I could stop myself. The sound hurt.

"Exactly. He made truly offensive chili."

I blinked. "My father couldn't cook."

"Sometimes. Mostly to cook."

"To hide documents?"

"Thomas came here every Thursday for almost a year," he said.