Chapter 5 - The Hidden Safe
The metallic click of the deadbolt locking echoed like a gunshot in the tense room.
Eleanor dropped her champagne glass, the crystal shattering violently against the hardwood floor.
"Holt, who are these awful people?" Eleanor shrieked, backing away from the armed men.
Holt wiped sweat from his pale forehead, his arrogant facade completely crumbling into pure terror.
"They are the private lenders who floated my business last year," Holt stammered pathetically.
He had not found legitimate buyers for the lake house; he had sold it to criminals to pay off a massive underworld debt.
"Sign the final transfer right now, or we start breaking fingers," the man with the knife ordered.
He slammed a thick stack of real estate contracts directly onto the dining room table.
I realized I was trapped in a room with violent criminals, and my recovering daughter was completely alone in the car outside.
I had to find Grandma Augusta's real trust document to prove this sale was legally impossible.
I remembered a secret Augusta had whispered to me during her final days in hospice care.
She had told me about a hidden floor safe located beneath the loose floorboards in the master bedroom closet.
While Holt was desperately begging the men for more time, I slowly backed into the hallway shadows.
I turned and sprinted up the wooden staircase as fast as my trembling legs could carry me.
I dashed into the master bedroom, throwing open the heavy closet doors and tearing away the antique rug.
My fingernails bled as I desperately pried the loose oak floorboard up from the ground.
The heavy steel dial of the hidden safe stared back at me from the dark cavity.
I spun the combination perfectly, entering Juny's birthdate exactly as Augusta had instructed.
The heavy metal door clicked open, and I reached inside with a desperately pounding heart.
My hand met absolutely nothing but cold, empty steel.
The real trust documents were completely gone.
"Looking for this?" a mocking voice asked from the bedroom doorway.
May you like
I spun around to see Davina standing there, holding a thick red folder adorned with the law firm's golden seal.
She was also holding the matching brass key to the safe in her other hand.
