Chapter 7 - The Family Account
Nathaniel brought everyone to his estate outside the city.
The mansion had fifty rooms, but Ruby chose to sleep on a sofa in the library because the bedrooms felt too large.
June stayed beside her.
Nathaniel spent the night in his study with Marcus and Claire, examining the deposit code found beneath the wall.
At two in the morning, the private bank returned the results.
The code belonged to an account opened under the Vale Family Protection Trust.
The listed beneficiary was Ruby Elara Vale.
The account contained twelve million dollars.
Nathaniel stared at the screen.
“Who created it?”
“The trust record says you did,” Marcus answered.
“I did not.”
“The authorization used your father’s original seal.”
Nathaniel looked toward a glass case on the wall.
Inside was the silver compass he had stolen as a child and eventually inherited. It carried the same symbol as Ruby’s key.
Only Nathaniel’s father, Augustus Vale, could have opened a trust using that seal.
But Augustus had died five years before Ruby was born.
Claire examined the transaction history.
“The first deposit was made nine months before Ruby’s birth.”
Nathaniel leaned forward.
“Someone knew Elara was pregnant before she told me.”
“The deposits continued every year,” Marcus said. “The latest was made three days ago.”
“By whom?”
“The source is hidden.”
Nathaniel called the bank chairman personally.
Within twenty minutes, the bank provided security footage from the most recent deposit.
The image showed Gabriel Cross entering a private branch.
He carried a black case.
Nathaniel watched him sign the deposit order.
June entered the study.
“So Gabriel has been putting money aside for Ruby?”
“Or using the account to make himself look like her protector,” Nathaniel said.
June placed a folded note on the desk.
“This was inside Ruby’s rabbit.”
Nathaniel opened it.
The handwriting belonged to Elara.
June,
If I do not return, take Ruby to Nathaniel only when Hawthorne Lane is threatened. The eviction will mean the Architect has lost control and started erasing evidence.
Trust the person who funds the family account.
Do not trust the name on Ruby’s birth certificate.
Nathaniel read the message twice.
Claire pointed at the bank footage.
“Gabriel funds the account.”
“Which suggests he is not the Architect,” Marcus said.
“Unless Elara expected someone else to fund it.”
June sat down.
“The note was sewn inside the rabbit. I never knew it was there.”
Nathaniel studied the thread.
The stitching looked recent.
“Who repaired the rabbit?”
June frowned.
“I did, years ago.”
“Has anyone else touched it?”
“The man who came to the apartment yesterday picked it up.”
“The eviction officer?”
Ruby stood in the doorway.
“He looked inside it.”
The adults turned.
Ruby held Nathaniel’s silver compass.
She had removed it from the glass case.
“This opens something,” she said.
Nathaniel approached.
“How do you know?”
“My key and this one have different marks.”
She placed them side by side.
Ruby’s key had four lines around the compass.
Nathaniel’s had five.
The fifth line was nearly invisible.
Ruby pressed it.
A small section of the compass opened.
Inside was a strip of microfilm.
Nathaniel had owned the compass for decades without discovering it.
Marcus held the film beneath a light.
Tiny account numbers appeared beside a single handwritten sentence.
The family account was never meant to protect Ruby from strangers.
It was meant to protect her from a Vale.
Nathaniel looked toward the family portraits lining the study.
His father.
His late wife.
Elara.
And his younger brother, Sebastian Vale.
Sebastian had disappeared from public life after a bitter argument with Nathaniel fifteen years ago.
Nathaniel had not spoken to him since.
Marcus checked the account numbers.
One had received money from every company connected to the Hawthorne Project.
The owner was listed as A. Vale.
Nathaniel whispered, “Augustus?”
“That’s impossible,” June said.
Ruby pointed at another portrait.
The plaque beneath Sebastian’s picture read:
Sebastian Andrew Vale.
A. Vale.
At that moment, the library doors opened.
A white-haired man entered without a guard announcing him.
Nathaniel stared at the brother he had not seen in fifteen years.
Sebastian removed his gloves.
“You finally found Father’s compass,” he said.
May you like
Then he looked at Ruby.
“And Elara’s daughter.”
