Page 47 of Greed
Lilo came to his side.
The safe was a few feet wide and slightly less high. Big enough to cram a body in. There didn’t seem to be a handle, but a glass panel about the size of a hand was stuck to the front.
“Must be biometric,” he mused.
Lilo raised her palm to the surface, then flinched back. “I don’t know if I want this.”
“Whatever is in there can be used to rescue your father.” And perhaps provide clues as to why someone was interested in Nathanial enough to kill him. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
Her lip twitched. “I don’t want him to die, I know that. Despite the terrible things he’s done, he is still my father. Sending him to prison would be a better form of justice. He doesn’t deserve to die.”
“Then open the safe.”
She pushed her palm on the panel and the door clicked open. He helped her pull the heavy door to the side.
Inside, sitting on a red velvet shelf was a yellow manila envelope. Lilo’s fists were stuck to her side, so Griffin took the envelope and peeked inside.
His stomach dropped.
“Griffin?” Lilo’s voice trembled. “Are you okay?”
He pulled out the pictures and quickly filed through them.
“Why would my father have photographs of your family?”
“That’s it?” Janet’s voice screeched behind them. “That’s what was so precious your father had to hide it from his wife?”
Griffin turned in time to see Janet storm back up the stairs and slam the den door closed.
“I don’t know.” Griffin stuffed them back into the envelope. “But we have to go.”
Lilo paused, contemplating something. Perhaps weighing up whether she believed his lie.
“If it’s just a few photographs of you and your family, then you won’t mind if I take them to exchange for my father’s life. Unless of course you’re hiding something.”
“No. I forbid it.”
“Excuse me?”
“You won’t be going to the meeting. Not after what we’ve learned today.”
Lilo wrapped her jacket across her chest. “And what exactly have we learned today? Please tell me.”
He couldn’t.
“Just exactly what does your family do, Griffin? I know Parker is one of the richest men around. Is he into some shady business deals?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I don’t know why your father is taking pictures of us, but I intend to find out. Until then, this is not the time for such discussions.” Griffin shot a meaningful look toward the den door where Janet had gone. “These pictures are none of your concern. Let’s go.”
“You can’t tell me what to do, Griffin. This is the twenty-first century. If I want to go, I will. If I want to look into the origin of the pictures, I will. You’re the one who told me to stand up for myself. Well, this is me, standing up for myself.”
“I’ll take these to the police and they can deal with it. End of discussion.” After meeting her mother and sensing her greedy intensions, he’d already made up his mind to stop Lilo from attending the meeting. It was too dangerous, too volatile, and now that he knew his family were mixed in it all, he was even more certain she needed to be protected.
Lilo hadn’t seen all the surveillance pictures incriminating his family. The ones that captured Evan and Parker tugging their Deadly Seven hoods from their faces. Whoever had their hands on these photographs had the potential to extort a lot of money from the Lazarus family, or to put them behind bars. Or worse, to blackmail them.
The question was, what was Lilo’s father intending to do with them, or more accurately, what did his kidnappers want with them?
A ping sounded and Lilo took her phone from her pocket. From the way her face crumpled, it was not good news. He expected more of an argument from her over the kidnapping, but she did nothing.
