Chapter 12 - The FireSmoke filled the chapel within seconds.
Lily wasn't there.
I repeated that to myself.
Lily wasn't there.
But my body didn't care.
Fear has no respect for logic.
Daniel smashed a window.
Jonathan helped Michael climb through.
I followed.
The chapel roof groaned behind us.
Margaret's car was already disappearing down the road.
She wasn't trying to destroy the ledger.
She was trying to destroy the evidence.
The police found the bodies of the two men who had blocked the doors.
Victor was missing.
Margaret was gone.
And Lily was still missing.
We spent hours searching.
Nothing.
Then Daniel noticed something in the ledger.
A handwritten note beneath the trust clause.
The heir must be brought to the Vale residence before the birthday.
“Why?”
Jonathan stared at the words.
“Because the trust was designed to protect the heir.”
“From what?”
“Anyone who wants to take the inheritance.”
I felt sick.
“Then that's where Margaret is taking Lily.”
“The Vale residence?”
Jonathan nodded.
“My father's old house.”
We drove there.
The estate stood at the edge of the city.
Abandoned.
Overgrown.
The front door was open.
Inside, we found photographs.
Hundreds.
Lily.
At school.
At the park.
At birthday parties.
Sleeping in the back seat of our car.
Someone had been monitoring her for years.
I felt nauseated.
Then I found a wall covered with notes.
Her height.
Her favorite foods.
Her friends.
Her fears.
Her routines.
This wasn't surveillance.
It was preparation.
Someone had been planning to take her.
A door slammed upstairs.
We ran.
A bedroom.
Empty.
But a small music box sat on the bed.
Lily's.
I opened it.
Inside was a recording.
Margaret's voice.
“Emma, if you're hearing this, you're too late.”
I clenched my fists.
“You'll never see her again unless you surrender the trust.”
The recording continued.
“You think this is about money.”
A pause.
“It never was.”
Then Margaret said something unexpected.
“Lily isn't my enemy.”
I froze.
“She is my insurance.”
Daniel stared at me.
“What does that mean?”
The recording continued.
“If anything happens to me, certain people will kill Jonathan.”
Jonathan went pale.
Margaret was afraid of someone.
Someone more powerful than her.
Then she said:
“They've been waiting for Jonathan to return.”
“Who?”
The recording ended.
A final word appeared on the screen.
THE BOARD.
I looked at Daniel.
“The company board?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
He looked terrified.
“The secret shareholders.”
I stared at him.
“How many?”
“Seven.”
“Who are they?”
Daniel swallowed.
“The people who own the other half of the empire.”
“And Margaret?”
“She only controlled the visible half.”
The door behind us opened.
A woman stood there.
Elegant.
Calm.
Holding Lily's hand.
My daughter looked directly at me.
“Mommy.”
I ran toward her.
The woman raised a gun.
“Stop.”
I froze.
May you like
She smiled.
“Now we can finally negotiate.”
