Chapter 6 - THE LAWYER WHO VANISHED
Samuel Reed refused to open his door.
Clara stood outside his small farmhouse the following morning.
Nathan remained several feet behind her.
Daniel had wanted to come.
Clara refused.
One Vance sibling walking into a possible trap was enough.
“Mr. Reed.”
No answer.
“I’m Clara Vance.”
Something moved behind the curtain.
“I know you can hear me.”
The door finally opened three inches.
Samuel looked twenty years older than the photographs Clara remembered.
“Leave.”
“I need to talk about my father.”
“No.”
“About Evelyn.”
Samuel tried to close the door.
Clara stopped it with her hand.
“My father died three days after meeting you.”
Samuel froze.
“I need to know why.”
His face collapsed.
“Come inside.”
The farmhouse was almost empty.
Samuel locked three bolts behind them.
Then he closed the curtains.
“Your father discovered money missing from the family trust.”
“How much?”
“Initially?”
Samuel sat down.
“Twenty-two million dollars.”
Clara stared.
“Initially?”
“By the time he understood the entire scheme, closer to sixty-eight million.”
Nathan cursed quietly.
“Evelyn?”
Samuel nodded.
“She used shell companies, false loans, and fabricated investments.”
“Your father confronted her.”
“He planned to remove her from every family entity.”
Clara’s voice became quieter.
“Then he died.”
Samuel looked away.
“Why did you disappear?”
“Because somebody broke into my office.”
“They took copies of the evidence.”
“Then my brakes failed.”
Clara stopped breathing.
Samuel continued.
“I survived because I hit a barrier before reaching the highway.”
“The police called it mechanical failure.”
“I knew better.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I was terrified.”
Clara wanted to be angry.
Instead she understood.
Samuel walked to an old cabinet.
From beneath a false panel, he removed a sealed envelope.
“Your father gave this to me.”
Clara stared at her name.
Written across the front in Edward’s handwriting.
Samuel handed it over.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Clara, if you are reading this, then I failed to fix what I allowed to happen.
She continued.
Her father described Evelyn’s theft.
Her manipulation.
Her secret relationship with Robert Whitmore.
And something worse.
Edward believed Evelyn had forged documents designed to eventually seize the trust.
The final paragraph made Clara’s blood run cold.
Do not trust a sudden marriage involving Daniel.
Clara looked up.
Samuel nodded.
“Your father knew.”
“Three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Victoria and Daniel hadn’t met.”
“Not publicly.”
Clara stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Samuel reached for another folder.
Inside was a photograph.
Victoria.
Daniel.
And Evelyn.
The date printed in the corner was four years earlier.
Daniel had always claimed he met Victoria eighteen months ago.
But the photograph proved Victoria had been watching him long before that.
The engagement had not been a coincidence.
The romance had not been an accident.
May you like
Daniel had been selected.
And Victoria had spent years waiting for the right moment to enter his life.
