Chapter 2 - The Emerald’s Secret
The Vanguard estate in upstate New York was an impenetrable fortress hidden behind three thousand acres of private forest. I sat in my father’s subterranean study, a sterile white bandage wrapped tightly around my torso, watching the feed from my emerald brooch on a massive plasma screen.
My father poured two glasses of scotch, setting one on the desk in front of me. “The financial evidence is airtight, Evie. Julian’s dummy corporations are seized. The SEC has enough to lock him away for three lifetimes. But you said there was something else on the audio. Something I needed to hear.”
I nodded, clicking the mouse. “Fast forward to timestamp 04:12. It happened three days ago, when Julian thought I was sedated.”
The screen shifted. The camera angle was tilted, showing Julian pacing in his study, speaking on a burner phone.
“I’m telling you, the Vanguard girl suspects nothing,” Julian’s recorded voice echoed in the room. “Yes, Director. The marriage is holding up our end of the cover. No, Marcus Vanguard hasn't looked into the old accounts. He still believes his wife died in that plane crash twenty years ago. He doesn't know we brought it down.”
My father’s scotch glass slipped from his fingers. It shattered against the hardwood floor, amber liquid pooling over the Persian rug.
He stared at the screen, the color draining from his face, leaving behind a terrifying, lethal mask. “Play it again.”
I replayed the audio. “...He still believes his wife died in that plane crash twenty years ago. He doesn't know we brought it down.”
My mother. Her death had always been ruled a tragic aviation failure over the Atlantic. It was the trauma that had turned my father into a ruthless, overprotective billionaire.
“Julian isn't just a greedy tech CEO,” I said quietly. “He’s an operative, Papa. He was planted. He married me to keep an eye on our family, to make sure you never dug into my mother’s death.”
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My father didn't shout. He didn't break anything else. He slowly reached for his intercom button.
“Bring Julian to the interrogation cell,” my father ordered, his voice devoid of all humanity. “I am going to peel the truth out of him piece by piece.”
