Chapter 13 - Seventy-Two Hours
Diane Harper had disappeared.
Her apartment was empty.
Her phone was disconnected.
Her bank account had been drained that morning.
Rebecca contacted the district attorney.
Marcus contacted every investigator he trusted.
Julian offered a private reward for information.
Then Sarah received a call from an unknown number.
A woman whispered.
“Do not say my name.”
Sarah stood perfectly still.
“Diane?”
Silence.
Then the woman began crying.
“I did something terrible.”
Sarah closed the office door.
“Tell me where you are.”
“I can’t.”
“Conrad will find me.”
Sarah’s voice hardened.
“You told people my baby was dead.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“He threatened my husband.”
“He knew about gambling debts.”
“He said he would send him to prison.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Where is Leo’s original record?”
Diane whispered.
“I kept a certified copy.”
“Where?”
“Safe deposit box.”
Before she could give the location, the call disconnected.
Marcus traced it to a bus terminal in Newark.
By the time his team arrived, Diane was gone.
But someone else had been there.
A security camera showed Henry Black entering the terminal ten minutes after Diane’s call.
The former attorney was still hunting evidence.
That evening, Rebecca brought more bad news.
Sterling Hotels had missed a major debt covenant.
Vance Capital had seventy-two hours to decide whether to call the loan.
If Julian enforced the debt, Conrad would lose control of the hotel empire.
But thousands of employees could face layoffs.
If Julian extended the loan, Conrad would have time to move assets and destroy evidence.
Sarah understood why Conrad had chosen this moment.
He was forcing Julian to choose between justice and responsibility.
Julian sat alone in the dark boardroom.
Sarah entered quietly.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“That might be the first time I’ve heard you say that.”
He smiled faintly.
Then the smile disappeared.
“If I call the loan, people like you lose jobs.”
Sarah sat across from him.
“People like me?”
“People who had nothing to do with this.”
“Then don’t give the hotel to Conrad.”
Julian looked at her.
Sarah continued.
“Take control.”
“Protect the workers.”
“Remove the people responsible.”
Julian stared at her.
“That would require board approval.”
“How many votes?”
“More than I have.”
Sarah remembered Margaret’s words.
Leo’s trust shares.
“How many would you have if Leo’s shares were restored?”
Julian slowly looked up.
For the first time in hours, hope appeared.
“Enough.”
May you like
But they had seventy-two hours.
And without Leo’s original birth record, the trust could not activate his voting rights.
