Chapter 14 - THE BREAK-IN
The next evening was cool and dark.
We watched Julian’s house from a safe distance down the street. The driveway was empty. The dinner had begun. Guards stood at the gate. Exactly as Vanessa had said.
At ten o’clock exactly, a car arrived. The shift change. The guards spoke briefly. Exchanged keys. Walked away.
The gate stood open. Unwatched.
“Now,” Vanessa whispered.
We walked quickly up the driveway. Through the gate. Around the side of the house. Vanessa knew exactly where to go. She led me to a side door. Entered a code on the keypad.
The lock clicked.
We stepped inside. The house was silent. Dark. Only the security lights on the exterior cast faint illumination through the windows.
“Study is upstairs,” Vanessa whispered. “Second door on the left. Hurry. We have ten minutes.”
We moved up the stairs. Quiet. Fast. Vanessa opened the study door.
I stepped inside.
The room was large. Bookshelves lined every wall. A massive mahogany desk sat in the center.
“Where?” I whispered.
Vanessa walked to the far wall. She ran her hand along the spines of the books. Pulled one.
A section of the bookshelf swung open. Revealing a heavy steel safe.
She pulled a small notebook from her pocket. Checked the combination.
“Stand watch,” she whispered.
She began turning the dial.
Click. Click. Click.
The safe door swung open.
Inside were stacks of documents. Ledgers. Files. USB drives.
“Take everything,” Vanessa said. “All of it. Every file. Every drive.”
I pulled a bag from my jacket. I began filling it. Names. Dates. Transactions. Payments. Evidence of bribery. Evidence of fraud. Evidence of murder. All in Julian’s own hand.
And then I saw it.
A thick manila folder. Marked: ELENA.
I opened it.
Inside were letters. Reports. Photographs. And a handwritten order. Signed by Julian.
*“Remove her. Permanently. Make it look like an accident.”*
Dated the day Elena died.
My hands shook. I read the signature again. Julian Vance. In his own handwriting. Ordered her death.
“Adrian…” Vanessa’s voice was tight. “We have to go. Now.”
I looked up.
“Read this,” I said.
Vanessa took the paper. She read it. Her face drained of color.
“He signed it,” she whispered. “He ordered it himself.”
“Take it,” I said. “Everything.”
We stuffed the final files into the bag. Closed the safe. Closed the hidden door.
And then we heard it.
The front gate opening.
Car doors slamming.
Voices. Too early. The shift change was not due for another hour.
“Julian,” Vanessa whispered. “He’s back.”
Footsteps in the hallway. Up the stairs.
Vanessa looked around. Saw the large built-in wardrobe.
“In there. Hurry.”
We slipped inside. Pulled the doors closed just as the study door opened.
Julian walked in. Followed by Marcus.
I held my breath. Through the crack between the doors, I watched them.
Julian walked to his desk. Poured himself a drink. He looked angry. Tense.
“Elias called,” Julian said. “They have the copies. The girl took photographs before she handed over the box. We still don’t have everything.”
Marcus paced.
“Then we find them. We take the copies. We take the girl. We take Lily. And we finish what we started.”
“Careful,” Julian said. “Adrian is smarter than we thought. And Vanessa… she has gone silent. She was supposed to report hours ago. I am beginning to suspect she has turned.”
Marcus stopped pacing.
“Vanessa wouldn’t dare. Her sister is still our prisoner.”
“Vanessa is desperate,” Julian said. “And desperate people make dangerous choices. If she has betrayed us… if she has led Adrian here… we kill them both. And then we kill the sister too. No loose ends.”
Inside the wardrobe, beside me, Vanessa went rigid. I felt her hand clench into a fist. Julian intended to kill her sister regardless. He never intended to let her go.
Marcus walked to the bookshelf. Right in front of us.
“What if they come for the safe?”
Julian sipped his drink.
“Let them try. Everything of importance is copied elsewhere. Even if they steal what is in there… I have protected myself. And besides… the most important piece of evidence is gone forever.”
He paused.
“Elena destroyed it before she died. She hid it so well… even I cannot find it. Without that… nothing else truly matters.”
“What is it?” Marcus asked.
Julian walked closer. Toward the wardrobe.
“The will. The original will. Her father’s will. The one that leaves everything to Elena. And then to Lily. Without it… all the evidence in the world means nothing. I have the law on my side. I have the courts. And I have the documents that say everything belongs to me.”
Julian stopped directly in front of our hiding place.
“And Adrian will never find it. Because Elena hid it where no one would ever look.”
He turned away.
“Come. We leave. Set the alarm. If anyone has been in this room… the police will find them when they try to leave.”
They walked out. Closed the door. Moments later, the front door slammed shut.
We waited. Counted to sixty. Then we stepped out of the wardrobe.
Vanessa’s face was pale.
“He never intended to save my sister,” she said. “He was going to kill her. All along.”
I gripped her shoulder.
“Then we get her out first. And then we find the will. Because Julian is right. Without it… we cannot defeat him.”
Vanessa looked at me, her eyes fierce.
“Where would Elena hide a will that she never wanted Julian to find?”
I thought of everything. The cabin. The locket. The notes.
And then I remembered.
Elena had once told me, long before any of this happened: The most important things should be kept where everyone sees them, but no one notices.
I pulled the locket from my pocket. Opened it.
Inside, beneath everything, was a tiny, folded slip of paper. I had missed it until now.
I unfolded it.
May you like
A single line. In Elena’s handwriting.
*“Buried with the one person Julian would never dare search. My father.”*
