Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Knew the Truth
Victor took Maya to the top-floor conference room.
He locked the doors.
“You're going to hand me the drive.”
“No.”
“You don't understand what you're holding.”
“I understand enough.”
Victor poured himself water.
“The company has thousands of employees.”
“So?”
“If the evidence becomes public, investors panic.”
“Good.”
“Banks freeze credit.”
“Maybe.”
“Contracts disappear.”
Maya stared.
“People will lose jobs.”
Victor smiled.
“You see the problem?”
Maya's voice hardened.
“You're threatening innocent employees because you want me to protect your crime.”
Victor sighed.
“Your father always had this weakness.”
“What weakness?”
“He cared about people.”
Before Maya could answer, the conference-room television turned on.
Daniel appeared live.
Victor went pale.
“Victor,” Daniel said through the screen.
“You should know better than to believe you can hide forever.”
Victor looked toward the security cameras.
“How?”
The screen split.
Ortiz appeared.
Then federal agents.
Maya realized the entire meeting had been recorded.
Victor lunged toward the drive.
Maya stepped back.
The door burst open.
Agents entered.
Victor was arrested.
But he laughed.
“You think this ends here?”
Maya looked at him.
“Yes.”
Victor shook his head.
“You don't know who financed everything.”
A pause.
Then he whispered:
“Your mother.”
Maya's heart stopped.
Lorraine entered the room.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“Tell her.”
Lorraine shook her head.
“I won't.”
“Tell her what you did in 2015.”
Maya turned.
“Mom?”
Lorraine began to cry.
Daniel entered behind her.
“It's enough.”
Maya stared at both of them.
“What happened in 2015?”
Daniel stepped forward.
“I wasn't killed.”
“I know.”
“I disappeared voluntarily.”
“I know.”
“But your mother didn't know the whole plan.”
Victor shouted from the agents' grasp.
“She knew enough!”
Daniel looked at Lorraine.
She finally spoke.
“I destroyed the original evidence.”
Maya stared.
“Why?”
“Because Victor threatened Toby.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Her mother had been trapped.
Daniel had been trapped.
Everyone had been trapped.
The difference was that Victor had chosen to become the trap.
Victor was taken away.
But the evidence wasn't finished.
The financial investigators discovered that someone had moved money through a second network.
A hidden account.
An account connected to a charity.
Maya recognized the name.
Her father's favorite charity.
She called Daniel.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“I think there's another person.”
“Who?”
Maya stared at the account statement.
“Someone who has been protecting us.”
Daniel went silent.
Then said:
“Where did you find that?”
“In the charity account.”
“I thought I closed it.”
“You didn't.”
“No.”
Daniel sounded disturbed.
“I didn't.”
A new name appeared.
Grace Bennett.
Maya froze.
“Who is Grace?”
Daniel's voice became faint.
“My sister.”
“Dad, you told me Uncle Victor was your only sibling.”
Silence.
Then Daniel said:
“Because Grace died when she was nineteen.”
Maya looked at the statement.
The account had been active for ten years.
Someone was using Grace's identity.
And that someone had been sending money to their family.
The next day, Maya followed the transfer records.
They led to a small bookstore outside Charlottesville.
An elderly woman stood behind the counter.
When Maya entered, the woman looked up.
Her face went white.
“You're Daniel's daughter.”
Maya stopped.
“How do you know my father?”
May you like
The woman smiled sadly.
“Because I helped him disappear.”
