Chapter 2 - THE SAFE HOUSE
I didn't go back to the sprawling estate I had shared with Arthur. Arthur’s note said to trust no one, and that meant the house staff, too. Instead, I drove my car to a cheap motel on the outskirts of the city, locked the deadbolt, and pulled out my laptop.
My hands shook as I plugged in the black USB drive.
A single video file popped up on the screen. It was simply titled: For Clara.
I clicked it.
Arthur’s face filled the screen. He looked tired, paler than usual, sitting in his private study. But his eyes—those sharp, intelligent eyes that had first noticed my exhaustion at that charity gala—were bright and entirely lucid.
“Hello, my beautiful Clara,” Arthur’s digital voice filled the dingy motel room. Tears instantly blurred my vision. “If you are watching this, my heart has finally failed me. But I need you to know something. It wasn't just nature that took me. It was Julian and Pierce.”
I gasped, pressing a hand to my mouth.
“Over the last two years, I discovered my sons have been embezzling millions from the company’s pension funds to cover their gambling debts and offshore investments,” Arthur continued, his voice hardening into steel. “When I confronted them, I told them I was cutting them out of the will and going to the authorities. A week later, I suddenly became deathly ill.”
Arthur leaned into the camera.
“They slipped something into my medication. A heavy metal that mimics rapid cardiac decline. I knew it, but I didn't have enough time to prove it before it killed me. But I had enough time to protect you. Clara, my empire is not in the company anymore. I liquidated my controlling shares. I hid the true wealth where they can never reach it.”
He held up a piece of paper with an address in upstate New York.
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“The iron key in your box opens the front door of the property at this address. Inside, you will find the physical evidence of their embezzlement, the medical files proving my poisoning, and the legal documents that make you the sole owner of a blind trust worth four billion dollars. Do not let them win, Clara. Destroy them.”
The screen went black.
