Chapter 8 - Robert ValeRobert Vale didn't look like a criminal.
He looked like a politician.
Tailored suit.
Silver hair.
Calm smile.
Expensive watch.
He descended the stairs as though entering a boardroom.
“Linda,” he said.
My mother stepped backward.
“You promised.”
Vale smiled.
“I promised you would live.”
“And my children?”
He looked at me.
“I've always been interested in your daughter.”
I felt sick.
Matthews raised his weapon.
“Stop.”
Vale looked at him.
“You have no idea what you're standing inside.”
Matthews kept his gun steady.
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
Vale laughed.
“You still think this is about money.”
He looked at me.
“It's about control.”
He explained everything.
Bellmont Holdings had been built as a financial machine.
Money was moved through legitimate companies.
Identities were created.
Assets hidden.
People disappeared.
My father discovered it.
Instead of destroying the operation, he found a way to freeze the money.
He hid access behind six identities.
Nobody could retrieve the money without all six keys.
Then my father disappeared.
Everyone assumed the system died with him.
It didn't.
Because my father had left one final mechanism.
Me.
“What happens when all six keys are brought together?” I asked.
“The accounts open.”
“How much money?”
Vale smiled.
“Enough to buy several governments.”
My stomach turned.
“And you need me.”
“Yes.”
“So why not just take me?”
“Because the system requires consent.”
I stared at him.
“Consent?”
“An authenticated biometric confirmation.”
He held up a small device.
“It recognizes the original beneficiary.”
My blood ran cold.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“And if I refuse?”
Vale looked at my mother.
“Then people you love will continue to die.”
My mother started crying.
I looked at her.
“How many?”
She didn't answer.
Vale did.
“Your father's death was only the beginning.”
He listed names.
People connected to the six identities.
One had disappeared.
Another had been found dead.
A third had fled the country.
One had been arrested on false charges.
The last two were missing.
My stomach twisted.
“And my brother?”
Vale shrugged.
“Derek was useful.”
“For what?”
“Transportation.”
“What did he transport?”
“Documents.”
“Which documents?”
Vale smiled.
“The ones your father left.”
I realized something.
The recording.
The envelope.
The SUV.
They had all been distractions.
While everyone fought over the evidence, someone was retrieving the real key.
My birth certificate.
“Where is it?”
Vale held up a small plastic case.
Inside was an old folded document.
My birth certificate.
I stepped forward.
“Give it to me.”
“Of course.”
He smiled.
“But first…”
He pressed a button on the device.
A screen lit up.
My name appeared.
Then a countdown.
10:00
“What is that?”
“Your choice.”
He pointed toward the six cabinets.
“There are six keys in this room.”
“Where?”
“One of them is hidden inside your file.”
I opened it.
Inside was a small black card.
It displayed a sequence of numbers.
“What is this?”
“The first key.”
I stared.
Vale continued.
“The other five are held by people who don't know they possess them.”
“Who?”
“You'll have to find them.”
“And if I don't?”
The timer continued.
08:41
“What happens?”
Vale smiled.
“Your brother dies.”
I froze.
“You said he was useful.”
“He was.”
“And now?”
“He knows too much.”
My mother screamed.
“Robert, don't!”
Vale looked at her.
“You taught me how to sacrifice people.”
That sentence destroyed her.
I stared at the screen.
The timer fell.
07:59
Then Derek appeared on another monitor.
Bound to a chair.
His face was bruised.
His eyes met mine.
“I’m sorry,” he mouthed.
Vale leaned closer.
“Open the account.”
“No.”
“Then your brother dies.”
I looked at my mother.
She whispered:
“Don't.”
Vale frowned.
“Don't?”
My mother straightened.
For the first time, there was steel in her voice.
“Don't do it.”
Vale's smile disappeared.
“You've become sentimental.”
She looked at me.
Then she said something I never expected.
“Your father left one final message.”
“Where?”
She looked at the wall behind me.
“Inside your SUV.”
I remembered.
The cargo compartment.
The hidden panel.
I had never inspected it.
Vale's expression changed.
He hadn't known.
My mother smiled through her tears.
“Your father always knew I would betray him.”
Vale turned.
“What did you say?”
She stepped backward.
“He left the real key somewhere you never thought to look.”
The timer flashed.
05:00
Vale suddenly grabbed my mother.
A gun pressed against her head.
“Where is it?”
She looked at me.
“Run.”
Gunfire exploded.
The lights shattered.
I dropped to the floor.
May you like
When I looked up, my mother was gone.
And so was the birth certificate.
