Chapter 11 - Grant’s Final Offer
Vivian placed the gun on the floor when Adrian entered.
“I did not know,” she said.
Adrian looked at her without sympathy.
“You knew enough.”
“Grant told us Emma created the accounts.”
“So you sent her outside with Lily.”
“I thought she had arranged transportation.”
“You took her car and phone.”
Vivian’s eyes filled with tears.
“I was angry.”
Emma stood in the doorway.
“You wanted me gone.”
Vivian looked at her.
“Yes.”
The honesty was almost worse than another lie.
“I believed you had turned Adrian against us,” Vivian continued. “Grant showed us records proving you were moving his money. He said you planned to leave the country with Lily.”
“So you helped him prepare a custody case.”
“I thought we were protecting our granddaughter.”
“You were protecting control.”
Vivian did not deny it.
Grant watched from the laptop.
“This family confession is touching, but we have limited time.”
Adrian moved closer to the screen.
“Where are you?”
“That is not the relevant question.”
“What do you want?”
“Access to the original succession trust.”
“You already have access.”
“I have administrative access. Only you and Emma can authorize the full transfer.”
Grant’s voice remained calm.
“Give me control of the trust, and I will provide Thomas Hart’s location.”
Emma stepped toward the laptop.
“You have my father?”
“For now.”
“Prove he is alive.”
Grant turned the camera.
A man sat in a dim room with his hands secured in front of him.
His hair was gray. His face was thinner than Emma remembered.
But it was Thomas.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Do not sign anything.”
Emma covered her mouth.
Her father was alive.
Grant moved the camera back.
“You see the problem. Thomas has always valued principles more than practical outcomes.”
Adrian’s voice became cold.
“If you harm him, there will be no agreement.”
“If I do not receive authorization within one hour, Thomas disappears permanently. Evidence will show he created the fraudulent accounts, manipulated his daughter, and attempted to steal the Vale trust.”
“You cannot erase the recordings.”
“I do not need to. I only need enough confusion to delay prosecution while the money moves beyond recovery.”
Jonah stepped into view.
“You are already surrounded by financial alerts. Every international institution has your name.”
Grant smiled.
“Hello, Jonah.”
“Where did you obtain my federal credentials?”
“From the same place I obtained Emma’s voice, Adrian’s signature, and Thomas’s death certificate. People provide remarkable access when they believe they are completing routine forms.”
Grant displayed a countdown.
Fifty-nine minutes.
“Open the trust authorization portal. Sign together. Thomas comes home.”
The call ended.
Emma looked at Adrian.
“We cannot risk my father’s life.”
“We will not.”
“You heard Grant.”
“I also heard your father.”
Adrian opened his laptop.
He entered the trust portal and reviewed its structure.
Grant expected two biometric authorizations.
Emma’s fingerprint.
Adrian’s fingerprint.
But the original agreement contained a safeguard Grant had overlooked.
The beneficiaries could authorize a temporary transfer into escrow while silently freezing every connected administrative account.
It would appear that Grant had received control.
In reality, it would expose every account he attempted to access.
“It is a trap,” Adrian said.
Jonah studied the code.
“It could work.”
“Could?”
“The system was designed twenty-one years ago. If Grant notices the escrow delay, he may stop.”
Emma looked at the countdown.
Forty-seven minutes.
“Then we make him believe we are afraid enough not to think.”
She turned toward Vivian and Richard.
“You will help.”
Richard frowned.
“How?”
“Grant believes you still want Lily.”
Vivian understood first.
May you like
“You want us to betray you.”
“I want you to make him believe you have.”
