Chapter 15 - Thirty-Two Million Reasons
Adam and Martin were at the marina.
I hated it more when the call came twenty minutes later.
The warehouse was empty.
The fire had been remote-triggered.
The video was prerecorded.
Adam and Martin had already left the country—or wanted us to think they had.
Vanessa called from the hospital.
"Adam won't leave without the bearer certificates," she said.
"The what?"
Claire looked at me sharply.
Vanessa explained that Claire's mother had structured part of the trust through old paper certificates representing ownership in three private land companies. Whoever physically possessed the certificates could not simply own the assets, but could create enough legal confusion to freeze them for years.
"Where are they?" I asked.
Claire's face changed.
"My mother gave them to me after Sophie was born. I hid them."
"Where?"
She looked toward the ocean.
"In our first house."
We had sold that house seven years ago.
It now belonged to a retired couple in Pacific Palisades.
Police met us there. The owners were frightened but cooperative.
Claire opened a hidden compartment in Sophie's old nursery.
The compartment was empty.
"No," she whispered.
A folded note sat inside.
TOO SLOW.
I called Vanessa.
"How did Adam know?"
Silence.
"Vanessa."
"I told him."
Claire ripped the phone from my hand. "Why?"
Vanessa started crying.
"Because my mother said she'd kill Sophie if I didn't."
"You keep saying you were forced," Claire snapped. "At some point you chose this."
"I know."
Then she said something that changed the room.
"But Adam doesn't have the real certificates."
Claire stopped.
"What?"
"Your mother replaced them before she died. She knew Martin was stealing. The real set is in a safe-deposit box."
"Which bank?"
"I don't know."
A man's voice sounded faintly on Vanessa's end of the call.
She gasped.
"No. You're not supposed to be here."
I heard a crash.
Then Adam's voice came clearly through the phone.
"Hello, Ethan."
May you like
Vanessa screamed.
The call went dead.
