Chapter 7 - Shadows in the Study
Julian and the doctor left the nursery twenty minutes later, locking the heavy door behind them.
Clara tucked Leo back into his bed, whispering a promise against his forehead that she would return before dawn.
The child looked at her with huge, luminous eyes, understanding the necessity of stealth with an instinct far beyond his years.
He nodded once, pulling the sheets up to his chin without a sound.
Clara slipped back into the dumbwaiter shaft, her objective shifting entirely.
Running away with Leo right now was impossible; the grounds were patrol-guarded, and Julian had state troopers on retainer.
Her only survival lay in mutual destruction.
She slid down to the ground floor and crept into Julian’s private study through the concealed library panel.
The room smelled of stale cigar smoke, leather-bound law books, and expensive bourbon.
She moved behind the massive oak desk, her eyes scanning the shadows until they found the floor safe hidden behind the oil portrait of Julian’s grandfather.
She knew the combination.
It was not Julian’s birthday, nor his father’s; it was the date of the maritime merger that made the Vance family billionaires—a date Julian regarded as holy scripture.
She dialed the heavy brass wheel: twenty-four, twelve, zero-six.
The heavy lock gave a satisfying, oily clunk.
She pulled the door open, her fingers rapidly sorting through deeds, stock certificates, and bearer bonds.
At the very back of the iron cavity lay a sealed manila envelope labeled with the name of a private psychiatric sanatorium in upstate New York.
Clara opened it under the moonlight filtering through the blinds.
Inside were not medical records of her supposed insanity, but paid invoices.
Two million dollars transferred from Julian Vance to Dr. Isaac Sterling to falsify death records and procure an illegal institutional transfer.
Beside it lay an original, unrecorded birth certificate bearing Sarah Vance’s true signature as Leo’s sole legal guardian.
Julian had never legally adopted the boy under his own name; he had simply erased the mother and kept the child through sheer intimidation.
May you like
Suddenly, the green desk lamp snapped on with a blinding click.
"Looking for your inheritance, Sarah?"
