Page 94 of Secret Heir

I pull up the files from that month. And there it is—the Red Hook warehouse. The accountant who’d been skimming from the Cyprus accounts. Alexander and I handled it ourselves.

I click on the security footage, and my stomach drops.

The timestamp shows 9:25 p.m. I remember leaving soon after to get the van, leaving Alexander to finish the cleanup. I was gone maybe twenty, twenty-five minutes.

The footage shows the execution with two shots to the head. The accountant slumps in the chair, and I watch myself and Alexander start the cleanup process.

Then I leave. The timestamp shows 9:33 p.m.

Alexander continues working. He’s wrapping the body in plastic. And then⁠—

I lean closer to the screen.

There. In the background. Behind the crates near the east wall.

There’s a shadow. It’s small and feminine. Someone hiding in the darkness.

My blood runs cold.

I rewind and watch again. The shadow is there the whole time witnessing everything.

When Alexander and I execute the accountant, the shadow flinches. I can see the movement even in the grainy footage.

After I leave, the shadow stays frozen, watching Alexander finish the cleanup.

Then another man enters. My nose is so close to the screen it touches it. I don’t recognize him. My mind flies through all the men in the Bratva. He’s no one I know and I have an excellent memory.

I turn up the audio, but there’s nothing. The system wasn’t great back then so all I have is footage of movements and shadows.

But I can see enough.

I watch the sequence again. The execution. Me leaving. Alexander continuing the cleanup alone. The man arriving. He and Alexander talk for several minutes, their body language suggesting a business discussion. Then the man helps Alexander with the body before they disappear from view.

And in the background, barely visible, the shadow moves and runs for the exit.

Aria.

I sit back, my mind racing.

She was there. She witnessed the execution. She saw me kill someone.

Then she saw Alexander meeting with an unknown man. Whatever they discussed, it scared her badly enough to run and disappear for eight years. It’s why she chose to raise our son in poverty rather than come to me.

What could Alexander have said that would make her think I was a threat?

I watch the footage one more time, focusing on that shadow. At the moment she witnesses the execution, she flinches and stays frozen, watching, as I leave and Alexander meets with the unknown man.

Twenty-one years old. Pregnant with my child. She watched me commit murder.

No wonder she ran.

“He told me to keep my mouth shut about whatever I saw or heard. That if I didn’t, Daniel would have an accident.”

Alexander threatened our children because Aria witnessed something. Something he doesn’t want exposed and it involves that unknown man in the footage.

I’m out of my chair and moving before I fully process what I’m doing. I’m in the hall to her suite before I know it. I unlock the door and push it open.

Aria is sitting on the floor by the window, her knees pulled to her chest, her face pale and drawn. She looks up when I enter, eyes red from crying, and flinches like she expects me to yell at her again.