Chapter 7 - EVERYONE WAS STEALING FROM DAVID
Julianne learned David knew about the stolen seventeen million while she was sitting in a federal interview room.
Rebecca told her deliberately.
Julianne went pale.
"How does he know?"
"We didn't say he knows."
"You just—"
"I said we know."
Julianne closed her eyes.
Then whispered, "If David finds out..."
Rebecca leaned forward.
"What?"
Julianne hugged herself.
"He'll come after me."
"He's detained."
"You still don't understand."
"Explain."
Julianne looked toward the camera in the corner.
"Elliot."
Rebecca's face didn't change.
"What about him?"
"David used Elliot when something needed to happen without paperwork."
"Like what?"
"Travel."
"Money."
"People."
"What does people mean?"
Julianne began crying.
"I don't know."
"You keep saying that."
"Because David never told me directly."
"Did Elliot ever threaten you?"
Julianne hesitated.
"Once."
"When?"
"After I asked too many questions about an account."
"What did he say?"
"He said accidents happen to women who mistake access for power."
Rebecca wrote it down.
Julianne stared at her.
"Do you know where Elliot is?"
"No."
"I need protection."
"Then tell us everything."
Julianne did.
She gave them passwords.
Safe-deposit locations.
Names.
A hotel in Miami where David met Vale.
A villa in the Bahamas where documents had been signed.
Then one final secret.
"There is another account."
Rebecca stopped writing.
"How much?"
"I don't know."
"Who controls it?"
"David."
"Location?"
"Switzerland."
"Name?"
Julianne hesitated.
"The Lily account."
Rebecca's eyes lifted.
"What did you say?"
"The Lily account."
My daughter.
Again.
Always my daughter.
They called me immediately.
The Swiss account contained twenty-two million dollars.
Legitimate Vance family inheritance.
Money David's father had left partly to Lily.
David had redirected it without my knowledge.
My seven-year-old daughter had inherited enough money to secure her entire future.
David had stolen it from her.
Not because she needed it.
Because he wanted control.
I requested another meeting with David.
This time, he looked afraid before I even sat down.
"What now?"
"Lily's inheritance."
His face changed.
I laughed bitterly.
"You knew."
"Maya—"
"You stole twenty-two million dollars from your child."
"It wasn't stealing."
"What do you call moving money she legally owned into an account only you controlled?"
"I was protecting it."
"From whom?"
"Bad decisions."
"She was seven."
"For the future."
"You mean your future."
He rubbed his face.
"I was going to restore it."
"When?"
"After Northstar stabilized."
"Northstar was fraud."
He said nothing.
I leaned toward the glass.
"You stole my identity."
"Yes."
"You planned to scare me into silence."
He looked down.
"You tried to make me look criminal."
Silence.
"You stole from Lily."
His eyes filled.
"Maya..."
"And then when she was dying, she had to beg for the attention of the man already stealing her future."
David cried.
I didn't.
Not this time.
"You know what's cruel?"
He looked up.
"She would have forgiven you."
His face twisted.
"She loved you that much."
I stood.
"But I'm not seven."
I left.
That night, federal agents found Elliot Crane.
Or rather, Elliot found them.
He called Rebecca.
"I want a deal."
"Where are you?"
"Safe."
"Do you have Thomas Reed's drive?"
"Yes."
"What do you want?"
"Immunity."
Rebecca laughed.
"No."
"Then you don't get the archive."
"We already have copies."
"Not this."
Rebecca paused.
"What is this?"
Elliot's voice became quiet.
"David's private recordings."
"What recordings?"
"Meetings."
"Calls."
"Conversations he thought nobody knew existed."
Rebecca leaned forward.
"What kind of conversations?"
Elliot smiled somewhere on the other end.
May you like
"The kind where David stops pretending he only wanted Maya scared."
Then he hung up.
