Chapter 8 - THE MAN UNDER THE HOUSE
Griffin rushed toward the door.
Locked.
He pulled the handle.
Nothing.
"Someone locked us in."
I looked around.
The room had no windows.
My heart raced.
Then the lights flickered.
A voice came through a speaker.
"Claire."
I froze.
It wasn't Ilsa.
It wasn't Griffin.
It was a man's voice.
Evan Cross.
"You finally found it."
Griffin shouted.
"Who are you?"
A laugh came through the speaker.
"Your father knew."
I stepped toward the microphone.
"What do you want?"
"Access."
"To what?"
"Something your father stole."
"My father stole nothing."
"He did."
"What?"
"An asset worth millions."
I looked at Griffin.
"Where is it?"
Evan laughed.
"Under your feet."
The floor vibrated.
A section of concrete opened.
Inside was a steel container.
I stared.
"What is that?"
Griffin whispered:
"I don't know."
The speaker crackled.
"Your father discovered that the Whitaker family had been using his foundation to move illegal money."
My stomach dropped.
"Why would my father be involved?"
"He wasn't."
Evan's voice hardened.
"He discovered it."
Then the truth began unfolding.
For years, Ilsa had used shell companies.
Griffin had been one of the names on the paperwork.
But someone else had created the entire network.
Someone with access to banks, attorneys, property records, and estate documents.
Someone who had been close to my father.
Someone who had known about the house.
Someone who knew exactly where the vault was.
I turned toward Griffin.
"Who?"
He looked at the wall of names.
Then his face changed.
"Evan."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"Evan worked for my father."
I froze.
"What?"
"My father."
"Your father knew him?"
Griffin nodded.
"He was his financial consultant."
Suddenly everything made sense.
Evan hadn't entered our lives recently.
He had been there before me.
Before Griffin.
Before the house became mine.
And my father had trusted him.
Until he discovered the truth.
A loud metallic sound echoed through the room.
The steel container opened.
Inside was a drive.
And another envelope.
This one was addressed to Griffin.
He picked it up.
His hands trembled.
He opened it.
His face turned white.
"What?"
He handed it to me.
It was a confession.
Not from Griffin.
From Ilsa.
She admitted that she had transferred money through Whitaker Family Holdings.
But she also named someone else.
Evan Cross.
At the bottom was a sentence that made my blood run cold.
If anything happens to me, Evan will make sure Claire takes the blame.
The lights suddenly went out.
Then we heard footsteps above us.
Someone had entered the house.
Evan's voice returned.
"Time's up."
The vault door opened.
But nobody stood outside.
Only darkness.
May you like
And from somewhere upstairs came the sound of a child screaming.
Tansy.
