Chapter 4 - BEHIND THE BOOKSHELFClaire nearly collapsed.
“Emily?”
The voice came again.
“Claire, don't trust him.”
Marcus stepped in front of Claire.
Officer Davis raised his weapon.
“Everyone stay back.”
The hidden door opened an inch.
A woman's hand emerged.
Pale.
Shaking.
Claire gasped.
Emily stepped into the room.
Older.
Thinner.
Her hair was cut short.
A scar ran from her eyebrow to her cheek.
Claire stared at her sister.
Neither spoke.
Then Claire rushed forward.
They embraced.
For several seconds, the entire world seemed to disappear.
Emily cried into her shoulder.
“I thought you were dead,” Claire whispered.
“I wasn't.”
“What happened?”
Emily looked at Julian.
“He wanted everyone to think I was.”
Julian's face was expressionless.
Officer Davis approached.
“Ms. Vale, are you injured?”
Emily nodded.
“But I'm alive.”
“How long have you been in this house?”
“Five days.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
Emily looked at him.
“I came back because I found something.”
“What?”
“The truth about the money.”
Claire looked toward the red folder.
Emily shook her head.
“That is only part of it.”
Officer Davis asked, “Who kept you here?”
Emily's eyes moved to Julian.
“He didn't.”
Everyone froze.
Julian's eyebrows lifted.
Emily continued.
“There is someone above him.”
Claire whispered:
“Above Julian?”
Emily nodded.
“Someone powerful enough to erase records, buy silence, and make people disappear.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Who?”
Emily hesitated.
Then she looked directly at Claire.
“Your father.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“He's dead.”
“I know what everyone believes.”
Emily's voice dropped.
“But I saw him.”
Claire backed away.
“This is impossible.”
Emily pulled a small envelope from inside her jacket.
She handed it to Officer Davis.
Inside was a photograph.
An elderly man stood outside a private clinic.
The photograph had a date.
Three months earlier.
Claire stared at it.
Her father's face looked exactly the same.
Marcus whispered:
“That's impossible.”
Emily nodded.
“That is what I thought.”
Julian suddenly laughed.
Claire turned toward him.
“What?”
He smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Marcus grabbed him.
“Understand what?”
Julian looked at Claire.
“Your family never told you everything.”
Emily stepped forward.
“Julian didn't steal eleven point eight million.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
Emily said:
“He moved it.”
“Where?”
Emily looked at Officer Davis.
“To an account controlled by the man who built this family.”
Claire whispered:
“My father.”
Emily nodded.
“And Julian was only the middleman.”
Julian's smile disappeared.
Marcus looked confused.
“Then why lock Claire down here?”
Emily answered.
“Because Claire found the transfer records.”
Claire stared at Julian.
“You were trying to kill me.”
Julian shook his head.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“To scare you.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“He wasn't trying to scare you.”
She pointed toward the hidden room.
“He was waiting for someone to come.”
Marcus asked, “Who?”
Emily looked toward the dark hallway.
“He knew the police would eventually find this place.”
Officer Davis frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Emily whispered:
“Julian wanted someone else to discover the basement.”
Marcus stared.
“Why?”
Emily looked at him.
“Because the person who arrives after the police…”
She stopped.
A distant engine roared outside.
Everyone turned toward the windows.
Another vehicle had entered the property.
No police markings.
A black SUV.
Emily's face turned white.
“They're here.”
Claire grabbed her sister.
“Who?”
Emily whispered:
“The people Julian was protecting.”
The SUV doors opened.
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Three men stepped out.
And the man in the middle looked exactly like Claire's dead father.
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