Chapter 4 - CLAIRE'S INSURANCE POLICY
Ethan reached the garage through the old passage.
His car keys were still in his pocket.
But when he hit the ignition, nothing happened.
The dashboard remained dark.
Richard had planned ahead.
Ethan looked around.
Claire’s old Range Rover sat under a dust cover in the far corner.
It had not been driven in years.
He pulled the cover away.
Sophie recognized it immediately.
“That was Mommy’s car.”
Ethan opened the driver’s door.
The key was still hidden inside the center console exactly where Claire used to keep it.
The engine turned over.
Celeste climbed into the back seat beside Sophie.
Ethan hesitated.
Every instinct told him not to trust her.
But men were moving through the house.
He could hear voices through the garage wall.
He locked the doors.
Then he noticed something beneath the passenger seat.
A thin black case had been taped underneath it.
Claire had hidden another package.
Inside was a prepaid phone.
A handwritten number had been taped to the back.
Ethan dialed it.
A man answered on the second ring.
“Claire?”
Ethan froze.
“My name is Ethan Carter.”
Silence.
Then the man exhaled.
“I’ve been waiting six years for this call.”
“Who are you?”
“Daniel Mercer.”
The name meant nothing to Ethan.
“Claire hired me three weeks before she died.”
“For what?”
“To investigate Richard Vale.”
Ethan looked at Celeste.
She clearly heard the name.
Her eyes widened.
Daniel continued.
“If you found the phone, then Claire’s emergency instructions were triggered.”
“What emergency instructions?”
“The ones involving Sophie.”
Ethan tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“What did Claire discover?”
Daniel’s answer came slowly.
“Richard was stealing from your company.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It started before Sophie was born.”
“How much?”
“At least eighty million.”
Ethan felt his stomach drop.
“That’s not why Claire was scared.”
“No.”
Daniel paused.
“She discovered Richard had forged documents connected to a trust.”
“What trust?”
“Sophie’s.”
Ethan looked in the rearview mirror.
His daughter was clutching the photograph against her chest.
“What does Richard want with her trust?”
“He can’t access it while Sophie remains under your legal guardianship.”
Ethan understood.
“If Sophie disappears…”
“You would eventually be declared unable to administer the trust.”
“And Richard?”
“He positioned himself as successor trustee.”
A shadow moved behind the garage windows.
Ethan shifted into reverse.
Daniel suddenly said, “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Richard wasn’t working alone.”
Ethan glanced at Celeste again.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Claire believed someone inside your house had been helping him for years.”
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Then a man stepped directly behind the Range Rover.
And raised his hand for Ethan to stop.
