Chapter 8: The Buyers
Chapter 8: The Buyers
Ortiz met them at a closed gas station ten miles from Briar Hill.
Vale was taken into protective custody.
Before officers drove him away, he explained what he had discovered.
Evelyn’s plan extended beyond gaining temporary custody.
Once Maya was declared unfit, Evelyn intended to prove Ryan had enabled her behavior.
Both parents would lose custody.
Oliver would then be placed with a distant relative approved by the family court.
That relative was Caroline Whitmore, Evelyn’s widowed niece.
Caroline and her husband had spent years attempting to have a child.
Evelyn had promised them Oliver.
“She treated him like property,” Maya whispered.
Vale nodded.
“In exchange, Caroline agreed to transfer control of her shares in Whitmore Holdings.”
The custody scheme was also a corporate takeover.
With Caroline’s shares, Evelyn would gain enough voting power to remove Ryan as chief executive.
She would take his son and his company on the same day.
Ryan felt physically sick.
Ortiz contacted the financial-crimes unit.
They discovered that Caroline had recently received five million dollars through a shell company linked to the Whitmore Foundation.
When questioned, Caroline denied everything.
Then investigators found a nursery prepared in her home.
Oliver’s name had been painted above the crib.
The custody hearing was scheduled for Monday morning.
Despite the investigation, Evelyn’s attorneys refused to withdraw the petition.
They argued that the hospital incident proved Oliver remained at risk with Maya.
The judge assigned to the hearing was Henry Caldwell.
Ryan recognized him as a frequent guest at Evelyn’s charity dinners.
Ortiz could not prove he was corrupt.
But she warned Ryan that the forged documents might still influence the court.
“We need the full nursery recording,” she said. “Not one frame. Not damaged fragments.”
Technicians had recovered only eighteen seconds.
The video showed Maya grabbing Evelyn’s wrist.
It did not show Evelyn taking the inhaler.
Without the earlier footage, Evelyn could portray herself as the victim.
Maya remembered something.
“The camera had a wireless light.”
Ortiz looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“A small blue light flashed when Evelyn pointed at it. It may have been uploading somewhere.”
The technicians searched the camera’s network history.
It had transmitted data to a private server.
The account belonged to Whitmore Residential Security.
Ryan called the company.
They claimed the server had been wiped.
But one employee secretly contacted him later that night.
“I know where the backup is,” the man said.
“Can you send it?”
“Not safely.”
“Then tell me where to meet you.”
The man hesitated.
May you like
“At the old Whitmore textile warehouse.”
Before Ryan could answer, the line went dead.
