Chapter 8 - THE BOX UNDER THE FLOOR
Grace's house was small.
Two bedrooms.
A narrow kitchen.
Old wooden floors.
Nothing about it suggested millions of dollars or corporate secrets.
Daniel entered with Marcus and Grace.
“Where would your father hide something?” Daniel asked.
Grace shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
She looked around.
“He had one place he never let anyone touch.”
“Where?”
Grace pointed toward the hallway.
“My bedroom.”
They pulled up the floorboards.
Nothing.
Then Grace noticed a loose board beneath the bed.
She removed it.
A metal box was hidden underneath.
Daniel stared.
Grace's hands shook.
“My father never told me about this.”
Marcus opened it.
Inside were documents.
A key.
And a letter.
The letter was addressed to Daniel.
He opened it.
Daniel,
If Grace has this letter, then everything has gone wrong.
Daniel read silently.
Your father made terrible choices. But he tried to correct them. He created a trust to return money stolen from innocent investors. Richard discovered it. Vanessa's father discovered it.
The money was never in the banks.
Daniel frowned.
He continued.
It was converted into property.
A list followed.
Buildings.
Land.
Hotels.
Construction sites.
All owned through shell companies.
Daniel recognized the names.
They were properties Whitfield Development had acquired over the past decade.
His company had unknowingly been sitting on the missing fortune.
The final page contained one sentence.
The person who controls the trust controls everything.
Daniel looked at Grace.
“What does the key open?”
She didn't know.
Then Lily entered the room.
She was holding an old stuffed rabbit.
“Mommy?”
Grace smiled.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
Lily handed it to her.
“Grandpa gave me this.”
Grace froze.
“My father?”
Lily nodded.
Daniel examined the rabbit.
Something was sewn into the lining.
A tiny brass key.
Grace stared.
“My father gave this to Lily?”
“Yes.”
Daniel understood.
Her father had hidden the key where nobody would look.
Inside a child's toy.
They followed the key to a storage locker.
Inside was the original trust.
But there was something else.
A photograph.
Daniel's father.
Thomas Parker.
And Samuel Cross.
Standing together.
Years before Vanessa had met Daniel.
Daniel stared.
“Why were they working together?”
Grace found another document.
She read it.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She handed it to Daniel.
It was a confession.
Thomas Parker had discovered that Samuel Cross had been laundering money through medical companies.
Daniel's father had helped expose him.
Samuel had retaliated.
Richard had joined Samuel.
Vanessa had been caught between them.
And Caleb?
He had been working undercover.
Daniel looked at Grace.
“Your ex-husband wasn't part of the theft.”
Grace shook her head.
“He was investigating it.”
“Why did he disappear?”
“Because Samuel found out.”
Daniel felt a wave of relief.
Then his phone rang.
Caleb.
Daniel answered.
“Where are you?”
“Watching the house.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
Caleb's voice was urgent.
“Daniel, listen carefully.”
“What?”
“Samuel has Lily.”
Grace screamed.
Daniel spun around.
The bedroom was empty.
Lily was gone.
The stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
Grace collapsed.
“No…”
Daniel grabbed the phone.
“Where?”
Caleb said,
“He took her to the place where your father died.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“The lake house.”
Caleb answered:
May you like
“Yes.”
Then the line went dead.
