Chapter 5 - Karen’s Empty Hospital Room
At ten fifteen, Julian’s driver waited at the international airport.
He watched the passengers leave Karen’s flight.
Karen did not appear.
At ten forty, he called Julian.
“She wasn’t on the plane.”
Julian stood inside his office overlooking the villa’s courtyard.
“Are you sure?”
“I checked every exit.”
Julian ended the call and contacted the private clinic in Switzerland.
The receptionist transferred him twice before a doctor answered.
“Mrs. Westbrook was discharged eight weeks ago,” the doctor said.
Julian gripped the phone.
“Where did she go?”
“We are not permitted to disclose that.”
“I am her son-in-law.”
“That does not change our confidentiality rules.”
Julian disconnected.
Daniel was sitting across from the desk.
“You said she was still there.”
“That was the information Margaret’s office provided.”
“Margaret disappeared this morning.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“Then Karen knows.”
Julian walked toward the window.
“How much?”
“Enough to return.”
“Can she reverse the transfer?”
“Not if the deed remains registered.”
“And the trust?”
“Already moved through three holding companies.”
Julian turned.
“You told me the structure was impossible to trace.”
“It is difficult to trace.”
“That is not what I paid you to say.”
Daniel rose.
“You did not pay me. You promised me half of Westbrook Holdings after the board removed Karen.”
“And you will receive it.”
“Only if she has no evidence.”
Julian looked toward the security monitor.
Lily was walking upstairs with her rabbit.
“Then we remove the evidence.”
Daniel followed his gaze.
“She’s a child.”
“She’s a child carrying a recorder.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You knew about it before I did.”
Daniel looked away.
Julian walked around the desk.
“What exactly did she record?”
“I heard the click during our call. I thought it was interference.”
“You said nothing.”
“I didn’t believe she understood.”
Julian laughed quietly.
“Everyone keeps underestimating that family.”
He left the office.
Upstairs, Lily was helping Elena search Karen’s old library. The room smelled of leather, dust, and the lavender perfume Karen used to wear.
Elena moved books from the bottom shelf.
“The safe is beneath this floor.”
Lily knelt.
“How do we open it?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily examined the wooden panels.
One panel contained a small brass circle.
She pressed it.
A keypad appeared.
Twelve spaces glowed blue.
“Every Westbrook secret begins with a birthday,” Lily whispered.
Elena tried Karen’s birthday.
The light turned red.
She tried Lily’s.
Red again.
“What about Grandpa?” Lily asked.
Karen’s husband, Arthur Westbrook, had died five years earlier.
Elena entered his birthday.
The light flashed green.
The floor panel opened.
Inside was a steel compartment.
It contained three sealed envelopes, a black ledger, two old phones, and a document folder marked ORIGINAL TRUST INSTRUMENTS.
Elena lifted the folder.
Footsteps sounded outside.
Lily closed the panel.
Elena pushed the documents beneath her sweater.
The library door opened.
Julian stood there.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for one of Lily’s books.”
Julian looked at the empty shelves.
“Which book?”
Lily picked up the first volume she saw.
“A history of international banking?” Julian asked.
“It has pictures.”
He smiled.
“Of course it does.”
His eyes moved toward Elena’s sweater.
“What are you hiding?”
Elena took one step back.
“Nothing.”
Julian entered and closed the door.
“Show me.”
Lily’s hand slipped into her cardigan pocket.
She pressed the recorder.
Julian reached toward Elena.
Before he could touch her, every light in the library turned off.
The villa’s security system announced a temporary power interruption.
In the darkness, someone opened the hidden service door behind Karen’s desk.
A hand reached through and pulled Elena backward.
Lily followed.
The door closed just as the lights returned.
Julian stood alone.
May you like
On the other side of the wall, Margaret pressed one finger to her lips.
“Your mother is closer than he thinks,” she whispered.
