Chapter 4
The hospital wanted to keep me overnight.
I refused until Detective Quinn promised two officers would guard my room and Daniel would not enter.
Only then did I let exhaustion take my body.
Three cracked ribs.
Deep cuts.
Concussion.
Severe dehydration.
Bruised shoulder.
The doctor said I was lucky.
I did not feel lucky.
I felt hunted.
At midnight, Priya arrived with a tablet.
Detective Quinn stood beside her.
“We found the message,” Priya said.
Daniel’s account.
His device.
His words.
Take the north pass. Faster and private.
Then there was more.
Deleted emails.
Trust transfer drafts.
A medical incapacity petition.
A press statement prepared for my “tragic death.”
My stomach turned.
The statement called me fragile.
Troubled.
Reclusive.
It said Daniel would continue my grandfather’s legacy “with humility.”
I almost laughed.
Humility looked expensive in Daniel’s hands.
Detective Quinn said, “We also found GPS data from a company SUV near your crash site.”
“Who signed it out?”
Priya hesitated.
“Vanessa’s brother.”
Of course.
Marcus Vale.
Former security contractor.
Angry man.
Loyal to money.
I closed my eyes.
“Find him.”
“They are looking.”
Priya lowered her voice.
“There is something else.”
I opened my eyes.
She looked afraid.
“Daniel has been moving trust funds into a private development project. Your grandfather’s protected land.”
My heart went cold.
“The children’s coastline?”
Priya nodded.
My grandfather had left twelve miles of untouched shoreline in trust for public education camps and wildlife protection.
Not hotels.
Not condos.
Not billionaire playgrounds.
Daniel had tried to kill me for land.
No.
May you like
Worse.
He had tried to kill me for inheritance dressed as vision.
