Chapter 8
Fear became part of my daily schedule.
Morning security briefing.
Medical check.
Legal meeting.
Staff interviews.
Financial audit.
Nightmares.
I would wake gasping, hearing metal scream as my car broke through the guardrail.
Then I would remember the lobby screens.
ELENA SOMOR.
MAJORITY TRUSTEE.
Alive.
Alive mattered.
Priya uncovered more theft.
Daniel had moved twenty-six million dollars through development shells.
Vanessa’s father, a retired judge, had signed legal opinions supporting the transfers.
My stomach turned.
The corruption was not a branch.
It was roots.
Adrian filed emergency motions freezing assets.
The court appointed an independent trust monitor.
Former staff came forward.
A chef fired for questioning invoices.
A housekeeper who saw Vanessa taking jewelry from my grandmother’s suite.
A driver ordered to follow me for months.
Tomas brought me tea one evening.
“You should rest, Miss Elena.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Your grandfather also did not.”
“That sounds like criticism.”
“It is love with better shoes.”
I laughed for the first time since the crash.
Then I cried.
Tomas stood quietly beside the door, guarding my dignity.
Later, Detective Quinn called.
“We found something in Daniel’s safe.”
“What?”
“A document claiming you voluntarily transferred majority trustee authority to him.”
I closed my eyes.
“Forged?”
“Yes. But witnessed.”
“By whom?”
A pause.
“Your aunt Celia.”
May you like
My mother’s sister.
The woman who raised me after my parents died.
