Chapter 6 - The Pawn in the Middle
While Rebecca transmitted Claire’s dossier to the executive board and the Securities and Exchange Commission, I walked quietly up the stairs to the third floor.
I knocked twice, paused, and knocked once more. ""Orchid.""
The brass bolt clicked, and the door swung inward. Megan stood there, her expression strained with worry, while Lucy sat on the window seat, holding her stuffed rabbit tightly against her chest. When Lucy saw me, she scrambled down and ran across the room, burying her face into my waist.
""Daddy, did Grandma go away?"" she whispered, her voice muffled against my sweater.
I knelt down, wrapping my arms completely around her. I didn't want her to feel the tremor in my hands or the cold rage simmering in my chest. ""Grandma had to leave, sweetie. She won't be coming back here.""
""Did I do something bad?"" Lucy looked up at me, her wide hazel eyes identical to Claire's. ""She said if I didn't take the key, the bank people would take our house away. She said you were sick and couldn't think properly, and that I had to help her save our family.""
A knot of profound grief tightened in my throat. Evelyn hadn't just plotted an abduction; she had emotionally manipulated an innocent child, weaponizing her fear of loss after her mother's death.
""Lucy, look at me,"" I said, holding her little face gently between my palms. ""You did the bravest thing anyone could ever do. You brought that key to me. You told the truth. You saved both of us. None of this is your fault. Do you hear me? Not a single bit of it.""
She let out a ragged breath and nodded, tears spilling over her eyelashes.
""David,"" Megan said softly from the doorway, her phone buzzing in her hand. ""You need to see this.""
She turned the screen toward me. It was a live local news alert. Arthur Vance’s firm had just had its trading license suspended by the SEC following our emergency disclosure. Federal agents were already entering the Vance & Sterling headquarters in Manhattan.
""The board verified your data,"" Megan whispered. ""Marcus cleared your name completely. They traced the keycard swipe in your office last night to an administrative intern paid five thousand dollars via an account registered to Evelyn’s private club.""
The defensive battle was over. The offensive had begun.
""Rebecca!"" I called down the hallway.
Rebecca appeared at the base of the stairs, tablet in hand, her face lit with fierce determination. ""I just spoke with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Because the forged wire transfers were intended to conceal the cross-border movement of trust assets linked to an international kidnapping attempt, federal prosecutors are opening an immediate grand jury docket. They are issuing an emergency federal restraining order against Evelyn and an immediate seizure warrant for Lucy's passport.""
""Where is Evelyn now?"" I asked.
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Rebecca glanced at her screen. ""Her cell phone pinged a tower near the private aviation terminal at Teterboro Airport twenty minutes ago.""
She wasn't waiting for the Nassau flight tomorrow morning. With Vance's firm crumbling under federal scrutiny, Evelyn knew the net was closing in. She was fleeing the country right now on a private charter.
