Chapter 5: Unearthing the Past
The afternoon sun filtered through the high windows of the cabin, casting long, golden shafts of light across the wooden floorboards where Lily sat quietly coloring with a box of old crayons Thomas had scavenged from a storage chest. Evelyn sat at the sturdy oak kitchen table across from Thomas, several heavy file folders spread out before them. These were not the files from the Vance estate, but documents Arthur had managed to smuggle out of the corporate archives before his sudden disappearance two years ago, which he had entrusted to Thomas for safekeeping.
Evelyn carefully turned the yellowed pages of a corporate ledger, her eyes scanning the itemized financial transfers between Vance Enterprises and a series of offshore shell companies. "Look at this," she pointed to a specific entry dated just two weeks before Arthur vanished. "Millions of dollars diverted from municipal development funds into accounts managed directly by Katherine’s private holdings."
Thomas leaned in closer, running a rough hand over his stubbled chin. "Arthur discovered those exact discrepancies. He threatened to go public with the board of directors unless Katherine halted the embezzlement scheme. That was when he stopped answering his phone. The official police report called it a tragic hiking accident in the rugged peaks near the northern border, but they never recovered his body or his personal gear."
"Because it wasn't an accident," Evelyn stated, her voice tight with controlled anger. "Katherine eliminated the primary obstacle to her financial empire. And now she’s trying to isolate Lily to ensure no one remains who carries Arthur’s bloodline or has any legal claim to the estate."
"If you take these financial records to the federal investigators directly without proper legal insulation, Katherine’s legal team will bury you under injunctions, or worse, have the evidence seized before it reaches a grand jury," Thomas warned, tapping his finger against the edge of the table. "We need a whistleblower who worked inside the inner circle—someone who knows the vault codes and the digital signatures Katherine uses to authorize those illicit transfers."
"Marcus," Evelyn said instantly. "He has access to every digital record in the main office. But contacting him securely from here is dangerous. Katherine’s digital surveillance team monitors all incoming and outgoing communications tied to our names."
"Leave the secure transmissions to me," Thomas said with a reassuring nod. "I have legacy radio equipment that bypasses standard commercial networks. We can reach Marcus tonight after midnight when the estate’s security systems enter their routine maintenance cycle."
Across the room, Lily looked up from her coloring book, holding up a drawing of a smiling house surrounded by green trees. "Mommy, look. Our new home in the woods. Can we stay here forever?"
May you like
Evelyn forced a warm, gentle smile, walking over to kneel beside her daughter. "We are safe here for now, my darling. But soon, we are going to make sure the world outside is safe for us too."
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