Chapter 13 - THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FIRE
The inheritance was not cash.
It was control.
Maya finally understood why Adrian had reason to fear her.
Grant personally owned twenty-three percent of Vale Global.
Adrian controlled eighteen percent through trusts and investment vehicles.
The rest was spread among institutions and family holdings.
But Maya’s grandfather had placed a controlling block of voting shares into a dormant trust for Grant’s only child.
If Maya was dead, those shares reverted gradually to other family branches.
Adrian had spent twenty-five years positioning himself to receive much of that control.
If Maya was alive, the transfer stopped.
Worse for Adrian, some previous transfers could be challenged.
By noon, Grant’s attorneys had filed documents confirming Maya’s identity.
Vale Global’s board called an emergency meeting.
Financial reporters began asking questions.
The birthday video disappeared beneath a much larger headline.
MISSING VALE HEIRESS FOUND AFTER 25 YEARS.
Maya hated the word heiress immediately.
It made her sound like money with a face.
Reporters gathered outside Rachel’s home.
So Maya and Lily moved temporarily to Vale House.
That night, Grant showed Maya something he had hidden from everyone.
A fire report.
Six months after Catherine disappeared, a cottage in Maryland burned to the ground.
Investigators found evidence suggesting Catherine had used the property.
Grant believed she died there.
Maya shook her head.
“She lived another fourteen years.”
“I know that now.”
“Why did you stop searching?”
Grant looked wounded.
“I didn’t.”
He opened a cabinet filled with private-investigator reports.
Twenty-five years of them.
Thousands of pages.
Every possible sighting.
Every unidentified woman.
Every child of the correct age.
Maya realized how unfair her question had been.
Grant had spent a fortune chasing ghosts.
She sat beside him.
“My mother changed our names constantly.”
“She taught me never to tell people where I was born.”
“When I was little, I thought it was a game.”
Grant looked at her.
“I missed everything.”
Maya swallowed.
“Yes.”
He looked down.
“I can’t get it back.”
“No.”
Another silence.
Then Lily ran into the room wearing one of Grant’s ties around her head.
“Look.”
“I’m a pirate.”
Grant stared at her.
Maya started laughing.
Grant laughed too.
Lily climbed between them.
For a moment, twenty-five lost years stopped controlling the room.
Then Julian entered.
He wasn’t smiling.
“Adrian has disappeared.”
Grant stood.
“What?”
“His driver says he left the office through the underground garage.”
“His phone is off.”
Julian looked at Maya.
“And Olivia Vance disappeared thirty minutes later.”
Maya pulled Lily closer.
A security alarm suddenly sounded downstairs.
Grant’s face went cold.
Julian reached for his phone.
May you like
Then the lights throughout Vale House went dark.
—
