Questions for Answers

Chapter Nineteen

Natalia and I both got up early the next morning to send Tristen off on his way to the airport. As we dropped him off, I began to get emotional and started to tear up. I knew that this was the best solution for right now, but I was allowed to be sad. I wouldn't have him around me for the first time in years. Before walking in, he turned around to me and saw that I had been crying. He cupped my face, "Come on, love, don't do that. You're gonna make me cry."

I wiped my tears, "I'm sorry."

He kissed the top of my head, "It's okay. Just promise me that you'll be safe. If it gets too dangerous, I'm just a plane ride away, okay?"

I nodded my head, "I know."

He kissed me on the lips now and pointed to Natalia, "Don't let anything happen to her."

She did a salute with a stale face, "Yes, sir."

He rolled his eyes and then focused his attention back on me, "Anyway, I'll call you as soon as I land. I'll keep you updated on my dad so you know how he's doing. You let me know if y'all find out anything, okay? I gotta go now, but I'll talk to you later."

He embraced me one last time before entering the airport. I took a deep sigh as reality had finally hit. The moment he left, I felt incomplete. I wanted to go with him, but I also wanted—no, needed to finish this. I'd just hoped it wouldn't be too long now.

Natalia tapped the side of her car, "Get in. We got lots to do today."

I sighed, "Yeah, I'm coming."

I got inside, as did she, and she started making her way back to her place. She looked over at me, "You know if it means anything, I think it's better this way. He was always picking a fight-"

"Natalia, don't. Let's just focus on what we need to do and get it done", I said coldly.

Her eyebrows raised, "Sheesh, fine, I was just trying to make conversation. I'll shut up now."

After she'd been driving for an hour, we were finally at her house again. I shut the door behind me as we got inside and pulled up a seat in the kitchen. She grabbed the files and placed them in front of us. She looked at me, thrilled, "You ready for this?"

I faintly nodded, "Yeah, I need to know what was so important for us to see in here. Hopefully, it clears a lot of things up."

"Let's find out", she said as she opened the folder holding all the documents.

Our eyes scanned the papers and tried to make sense of what we were seeing. The first words I saw were what I assumed to be a name. It was Eylias Bec. So many documents showed how he had donated millions of dollars to the church, police department, hospitals, and many others. I scratched my head, "Why is this man donating so much money to all of these different organizations? And why was it hidden away?"

She grabbed it to look, "Well obviously this is shading dealings. Who is this man anyway?"

I shrugged and kept looking. My eyes widened as I saw the name of a business I recognized. I pointed, "He owns Stonehenge Enterprise? That's where my parents worked! Or...presumably worked. But wait...this must mean that he's the one who actually employed our parents, right?"

She seemed unsure, "I mean, maybe. But I've never seen that name before. Did your parents mention anything about him in their notes so we can be sure it's him? Cause there's a lot of different names on here that show up more than once."

I got up to retrieve the red book and started flipping through the pages. When I got to the entries about Italy, I flipped to a page I hadn't seen before. It read: