Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN BEFORE ISABELLA
Daniel Pike disappeared before police could arrest him.
His apartment was empty. His bank accounts had been drained. A security camera caught him entering a black sedan owned by Sterling Global.
William stared at the image. “Someone in my company is helping him.”
The answer came from his chief financial officer, Martin Shaw.
Martin arrived at the hospital carrying documents and fear. He had worked beside William for twenty years and had attended both Sterling weddings.
“Isabella has been moving money,” Martin said. “Small amounts at first. Then eighty million dollars into medical investment funds controlled by Vale.”
“Why didn't you tell me?” William asked.
“I tried. Your office sent back approvals with your voice attached.”
Voice recordings, digital seals, forged signatures.
Isabella had not simply married William.
She had built a second William inside his own systems.
Martin showed them a pending transaction scheduled for noon. If completed, controlling shares of Sterling Global would move into a trust managed by Isabella.
The condition for transfer was William being declared mentally unfit.
The custody order against him was only the first step.
Emma asked, “What happens to Ethan?”
Martin looked at the floor. “The trust names Isabella as guardian until he turns thirty.”
William's hands curled into fists.
Ortiz warned him, “Do not contact her.”
He contacted her anyway.
Isabella answered by video from the ballroom, now empty except for broken glasses and wet flowers.
“You found the cottage,” she said.
William's voice shook. “Did you kill Grace?”
“I tried to save her from herself.”
“That is not an answer.”
“She was going to destroy you. She discovered the offshore accounts your father left behind and believed you were hiding them.”
William looked confused. “What offshore accounts?”
Isabella smiled. “Exactly.”
She turned the camera toward a portrait of William's father.
“Your family fortune was built on property taken through fraud. Grace found the original records. She wanted to surrender everything.”
“And you stopped her.”
“I protected Ethan's inheritance.”
Emma said, “By locking him underground?”
Isabella's expression sharpened. “You were always the problem, Emma. Grace trusted you. Ethan trusts you. Servants hear what powerful people forget to hide.”
A shadow moved behind Isabella.
Daniel Pike stepped into view, holding a gun.
At his feet knelt Martin Shaw's wife and teenage daughter.
Martin made a broken sound.
Isabella said, “Cancel the police search and complete the transfer by noon.”
May you like
Then she looked directly at Emma.
“And bring me the one thing Grace left with the housekeeper before she died.”
