Chapter 13 - THE TRAP INSIDE HER FATHER’S BUILDING
Valerie’s apartment was empty when they arrived.
Too empty.
The furniture remained.
The walls did not.
Someone had removed sections of drywall.
Cabinets had been pulled apart.
Floorboards lifted.
Her mattress sliced open.
Sebastian stared.
“He tore your home apart.”
Valerie walked toward the bookshelf.
The framed photograph was gone.
Her father had given it to her when she turned twenty-one.
A picture of Valerie at six years old sitting on his shoulders in Central Park.
Nothing valuable.
Nothing anyone should have wanted.
She closed her eyes.
“It was there.”
Sebastian came closer.
“The registry?”
“I don’t know.”
“He never told me.”
“But the frame was unusually heavy.”
“Adrian knew?”
“Apparently.”
Detective Price entered.
“No sign of him.”
Valerie looked at the ruined room.
“He already has it.”
Sebastian’s phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
The missing frame.
Then a second image.
An old document hidden inside it.
Bell-Ward Equity Registry.
Twenty-two percent.
Original signatures.
Thomas Bell.
Charles Ward.
Valerie stopped breathing.
A message followed.
NOW WE CAN FINALLY TALK.
Then an address.
Sebastian immediately handed the phone to Price.
“No.”
Valerie looked at him.
He looked back.
“I’m not ordering you.”
“It sounded like it.”
“I am stating that going to an unknown location after Adrian tried to burn us alive seems unwise.”
Valerie looked at Price.
“Can you trace it?”
“Burner.”
“Address?”
Price checked.
“Old Bell Urban warehouse.”
Valerie’s face changed.
“My father’s first building.”
Sebastian understood immediately.
“He chose it for you.”
“Yes.”
Another message arrived.
VALERIE ALONE.
OR THE ORIGINAL BURNS.
Sebastian’s jaw clenched.
“You’re not going alone.”
Valerie stared at the screen.
Then looked at Detective Price.
“No.”
Sebastian frowned.
“No?”
“I’m not.”
He blinked.
“That was easier than expected.”
Valerie turned to Price.
“But Adrian needs to believe I am.”
Two hours later, Valerie walked into the abandoned Bell warehouse wearing a hidden microphone beneath her blouse.
Police waited outside the perimeter.
Sebastian sat inside an unmarked vehicle with Detective Price.
He hated every second.
“This is a terrible plan.”
Price watched the audio levels.
“It was her plan.”
“That doesn’t improve it.”
“You respecting her choices sounded more impressive at the press conference.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“I dislike you.”
“I’ve been told.”
Inside, Valerie walked through the dark warehouse.
Her shoes echoed against concrete.
“Adrian?”
Nothing.
Then lights came on.
One row at a time.
Adrian stood on the old mezzanine.
No suit.
No tie.
For the first time, he looked tired.
“Valerie.”
She stared up.
“Where is the registry?”
“Safe.”
“Give it to me.”
He smiled.
“Still direct.”
“I learned from your brother.”
Adrian’s smile disappeared.
“That would worry me.”
Valerie moved closer.
“Why are you doing this?”
“You know why.”
“Twenty-two percent?”
“No.”
He descended the stairs.
“Twenty-two percent is a number.”
“This is survival.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
He stopped several feet away.
“My father was a criminal.”
“You’re admitting it?”
“I’m stating the obvious.”
“He stole from Ward.”
“He stole from Bell.”
“He stole from everyone.”
Valerie kept her breathing steady.
“And you knew.”
Adrian’s eyes sharpened.
“Careful.”
“You were seventeen.”
“You found the records.”
“You blackmailed him.”
Adrian smiled faintly.
“Evelyn found page four.”
Valerie said nothing.
Adrian continued.
“I wondered how long it would take.”
“Why didn’t you expose your father?”
“Because I was seventeen.”
“He controlled everything.”
“My education.”
“My mother.”
“My future.”
“So you joined him.”
“No.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I learned from him.”
Outside, Sebastian’s fists tightened.
Price raised a hand.
“Not yet.”
Inside, Valerie looked at Adrian.
“Did you kill Charles?”
“No.”
“Your father?”
“No.”
“My father?”
Adrian’s face did not move.
“Accidents happen.”
Valerie’s throat tightened.
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“It was the only one you’re getting.”
“You sabotaged the SUV.”
Adrian smiled.
“That was sloppy.”
“So yes.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You put the surveillance in Sebastian’s penthouse.”
“Yes.”
Outside, Detective Price looked at Sebastian.
That was enough for several charges already.
Valerie continued.
“For four years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Sebastian is sentimental.”
Sebastian’s face hardened.
Adrian kept talking.
“He thinks he’s ruthless.”
“He isn’t.”
“He hesitates when family is involved.”
“He wants everyone to be redeemable.”
“So I listened.”
“I learned where he was weak.”
“And then he met you.”
Valerie swallowed.
“I wasn’t his weakness.”
Adrian laughed.
“You were the easiest weakness he ever gave me.”
Outside, Sebastian nearly opened the vehicle door.
Price grabbed his arm.
“Stay.”
Inside, Valerie stared at Adrian.
“You leaked my first-time confession.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled despite herself.
Adrian noticed.
“See?”
“That.”
“That is why you were useful.”
“You feel everything.”
“Sebastian feels more than he admits.”
“All I had to do was make your pain visible.”
“He did the rest.”
Valerie’s voice shook.
“You took a photograph of his bed.”
“I took nothing.”
“The system did.”
“You released it.”
“Yes.”
“You planted money in my account.”
“Yes.”
“You bought my building.”
“Yes.”
“You broke into my apartment.”
Adrian smiled.
“Several times.”
“You attacked Naomi.”
His face changed slightly.
“I told someone to scare her.”
“That is not what happened.”
“No.”
“They exceeded instructions.”
Valerie stared.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“No.”
“I’m practical.”
“My father was practical.”
“Evelyn is practical.”
“Sebastian is the only Ward stupid enough to believe truth matters more than power.”
Valerie took one more step.
“And yet you’re terrified of him.”
Adrian’s smile disappeared.
“I am not.”
“You bugged his bedroom.”
“You manipulated his board.”
“You framed his security chief.”
“You tried to remove him before an audit.”
“That’s fear.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Give me the microphone.”
Valerie stopped breathing.
Outside, Price whispered.
“He knows.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“The one taped beneath your blouse.”
Valerie backed away.
He smiled.
“You really thought I wouldn’t scan the building?”
Police began moving.
Adrian reached into his pocket.
Sebastian opened the car door.
Price grabbed him.
“Wait.”
Adrian held a remote.
“One button.”
He said.
“And every remaining Bell record in this building burns.”
Valerie looked around.
“You brought the registry here?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“Because you needed to see it before you signed.”
“Signed what?”
He tossed papers onto a table.
Waiver.
Settlement.
Transfer of claim.
Valerie laughed.
“You still think money will make me disappear?”
“No.”
Adrian’s eyes became cold.
“I think fire might.”
Outside, Sebastian ran.
Price swore and followed.
Inside, Valerie heard something behind her.
A security guard appeared.
Then another.
Adrian pointed toward the waiver.
“Sign.”
“No.”
“Valerie.”
“No.”
“You’re trying very hard to become your father.”
She stared at him.
“Thank you.”
His face changed.
“He died broke.”
“He died telling the truth.”
“He died alone.”
“No.”
Valerie’s eyes filled.
“He had me.”
Adrian pressed the remote halfway.
“You have ten seconds.”
Valerie looked at the document.
Then the doorway behind him.
Sebastian appeared.
Adrian saw her expression change.
He turned.
Sebastian hit him.
The remote flew across the floor.
The guards moved.
Police flooded through the side entrance.
“Down!”
Adrian lunged for the remote.
Valerie kicked it beneath a cabinet.
A guard grabbed Sebastian.
Sebastian drove him backward into the wall.
Another officer tackled the second guard.
Adrian grabbed Valerie’s wrist.
Sebastian saw it.
Something in his face changed.
Valerie saw that too.
“Sebastian.”
He stopped.
That single word.
Enough.
She twisted her wrist exactly as Jonah had taught her.
Adrian lost his grip.
Police slammed him against the table.
Detective Price cuffed him.
Adrian stared at Sebastian.
“You’re destroying Ward Holdings for her.”
Sebastian walked closer.
“No.”
He looked at Valerie.
Then back at Adrian.
“I’m finally saving it from you.”
Price removed the remote.
Officers searched the warehouse.
Ten minutes later, they found the original registry inside a fireproof case.
Alongside it were ledgers.
Offshore accounts.
Payment records.
Redline contracts.
Security invoices.
Every crime Adrian had thought he could bury.
Valerie stood beside the old Bell Urban sign.
Sebastian approached.
His knuckles were bruised.
His ribs clearly hurt.
She looked at him.
“You left the car.”
“Yes.”
“Detective Price told you not to.”
“Yes.”
“I told you I could handle it.”
“Yes.”
“Any defense?”
Sebastian thought.
“No.”
Valerie stared at him.
Then laughed.
He did too.
But before either could say more, Price approached.
Her expression was serious.
“We found another file.”
Sebastian frowned.
“What file?”
She handed him a folder.
Inside were photographs of three car accidents.
Malcolm Ward.
Charles Ward.
Thomas Bell.
Beside each one was the same name.
A man Sebastian recognized.
His family’s former security director.
Gerald Mercer.
Sebastian looked up.
May you like
“He worked for my mother.”
Evelyn Ward’s name appeared on the final authorization page.
