Chapter 8 - Karen Walked Back Into Her House
The front doors opened before Julian could destroy the recorder.
Karen entered wearing the gray suit she had chosen for the board meeting that was supposed to occur the following morning.
She saw Lily crying beside Elena.
She saw Julian holding the recorder.
She saw the red mark on Lily’s wrist.
Everything inside Karen became still.
“Who touched my granddaughter?”
Julian sat down, not because he was calm, but because he wanted the room to believe he was.
He held up his phone.
“She needs a lesson. This is my house.”
Karen walked between him and Lily.
She struck him twice.
“Wrong answer, you arrogant bastard.”
Then she activated the security command from the ring on her right hand.
Julian’s phone locked.
The villa sealed itself.
Karen displayed the original deed.
“I froze your empire.”
Daniel moved behind the sofa.
Karen saw him.
So did Julian.
“And Lily recorded the people who helped you steal it,” Karen continued.
She pressed play.
Daniel’s voice filled the room.
“Once Karen’s signature is accepted, Elena and the child won’t matter.”
Julian turned toward him.
Daniel raised his hands.
“That recording is incomplete.”
Karen looked at him.
“You were my brother’s son.”
“I still am.”
“No. You are the man who used my brother’s name to steal from his family.”
Daniel stepped away from the sofa.
“You left the company leaderless. Julian protected it.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“Don’t pretend this was loyalty. You wanted half.”
Daniel glared at him.
Karen’s eyes moved between them.
“Thank you.”
Julian frowned.
“For what?”
“For confirming the agreement in front of eleven witnesses and an active security system.”
Julian looked toward the ceiling cameras.
The small indicator lights had turned blue.
Everything was being uploaded.
Daniel moved toward the hallway.
The interior doors locked before he reached them.
Karen faced the relatives.
“Everyone will remain in this room until the investigators arrive.”
Marianne stood.
“You can’t imprison us.”
“You are free to leave when the gate opens. It will open after law enforcement secures the financial records.”
Julian crossed his arms.
“You think a recording from a child will erase eighteen months of legal ownership?”
“No.”
Karen handed the sealed deed to Elena.
“The deed will erase your ownership.”
She placed the original trust documents on the table.
“These will restore Elena’s assets.”
Margaret entered carrying a tablet.
“And this will explain where the money went.”
The screen displayed a map of transfers moving through companies in Delaware, Luxembourg, Singapore, and the Cayman Islands.
Julian stared at it.
“You accessed private accounts.”
“They were not private,” Margaret said. “They belonged to the Westbrook trust.”
Daniel looked at the map.
His confidence finally broke.
One of the transfer lines ended at Graybridge Capital.
Another ended at a numbered account Karen did not recognize.
Karen enlarged the screen.
“Whose account is that?”
Daniel said nothing.
Julian looked at him.
“You said every account belonged to us.”
Daniel backed away.
“I structured what you requested.”
“Whose account is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Julian moved toward him.
“You stole from me?”
Karen almost laughed at the absurdity.
“You are both accusing each other of stealing money neither of you owned.”
Sirens sounded beyond the locked gate.
Daniel looked toward the kitchen.
Karen followed his gaze.
“There is no exit.”
“There is always an exit in this house,” Daniel said.
Karen’s expression changed.
Only three people knew every hidden passage.
Karen.
Margaret.
And Arthur, Karen’s dead husband.
Daniel suddenly overturned the side table.
Relatives screamed as a lamp shattered.
He ran toward the library.
Julian followed.
Karen pressed the security command, but the library door did not lock.
Someone had disabled it from inside.
Karen, Elena, and Margaret ran after them.
When they entered the library, the hidden floor safe was open.
The black ledger was gone.
A section of the wall stood ajar.
Daniel and Julian had entered the passage.
Karen reached the opening.
From somewhere beneath the villa came Daniel’s voice.
“You never knew your own house as well as Uncle Arthur did.”
Karen stopped.
Daniel had never been told about the passage.
May you like
Unless Arthur had told him.
Or someone else had.
