Chapter 11 - Box 317
Preston had opened the safe-deposit box at 8:07 a.m.
Nearly four hours before Vanessa kicked Emily.
That meant the confrontation in the maternity hallway had not started the day’s betrayal.
It had interrupted something already in motion.
Security obtained bank footage.
Preston entered alone.
He left carrying a brown envelope.
When questioned, he denied it.
Emily watched the video in silence.
Then she asked Raymond to bring Preston into the room.
This time he looked exhausted.
His expensive suit was wrinkled.
His eyes were red.
Emily showed him the image.
“What was inside?”
Preston looked at the screen.
Nothing.
“What was inside?”
He shook his head.
“You won’t understand.”
“Try me.”
He sat down.
“Your mother collected evidence.”
“We know.”
“Not just against my father.”
Emily waited.
“Against Saint Claire executives.”
Raymond stiffened.
“Names.”
Preston laughed bitterly.
“You still think this is two families fighting?”
“Names.”
Preston looked at Emily.
“The envelope contained a ledger.”
“Where is it?”
“I gave it to my father.”
Emily’s jaw tightened.
“Of course you did.”
“I didn’t know what he planned to do today.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“But you opened my dead mother’s safe-deposit box with a stolen key.”
Preston had no answer.
Emily leaned forward.
“What was in the ledger?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Doctors.”
“Executives.”
“Politicians.”
Raymond went still.
“Which politicians?”
“I didn’t memorize everything.”
“Did you see Thomas Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Eleanor Grant?”
Preston hesitated.
Emily noticed.
“Was Eleanor there?”
“Yes.”
Raymond stared through the glass wall toward the hallway.
Eleanor had left less than an hour earlier.
“Find her,” he told security.
They could not.
Her phone was off.
Her office had been cleared.
Her car was gone.
The woman who claimed she loved Claire Saint Claire had disappeared immediately after revealing the safe-deposit key.
Emily felt anger replace surprise.
Another player.
Another layer.
Raymond ordered investigators to locate her.
Preston remained seated.
Emily looked back at him.
“Why did Vanessa kick me?”
He rubbed his face.
“She saw the ledger.”
“What?”
“She knew her name was in it.”
Vanessa froze from across the room.
“My name?”
Preston nodded.
“You received payments.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“From your father.”
“Exactly.”
“For consulting.”
“Maybe.”
Charles, listening from the next room through counsel, demanded the interview stop.
Nobody cared.
Emily asked, “Why would seeing the ledger make Vanessa attack me?”
Preston looked at her.
“Because the ledger included a note beside her payments.”
“What note?”
He swallowed.
“Fetal access.”
Emily stared.
Vanessa whispered, “No.”
Preston continued.
“I confronted her this morning.”
Vanessa backed away.
“No.”
“You admitted accessing Emily’s medical file.”
“Because Charles asked me.”
“And the genetic report?”
“I didn’t create that.”
Preston turned to Emily.
“That’s why we were at the hospital.”
Emily frowned.
“You said she had a wellness consultation.”
“A lie.”
“At least you finally recognize them.”
Preston flinched.
“We came to identify who created the report.”
“Why secretly?”
“Because I thought someone was setting me up too.”
Emily almost laughed.
Even now, Preston’s greatest fear was becoming a victim.
Then Raymond’s phone rang.
Security had found Eleanor Grant.
Not far away.
She was in the parking structure.
Inside her car.
Unconscious.
On the passenger seat was the missing ledger.
May you like
And across the windshield, someone had written four words in red marker.
CLAIRE SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIET.
