Chapter 8 - Secrets Beneath the Vance Estate: The Missing First Will
The air in the office froze instantly.
“What do you mean she escaped?” Julian demanded, his voice hardening into steel. “She was under maximum armed escort!”
“A disguised private ambulance rammed the police transport van on the FDR Drive,” Arthur explained frantically. “Two armed mercenaries neutralized the guards with stun grenades and extracted Vanessa. Marcus Sterling’s underground network had a contingency extraction plan ready. The police are issuing a nationwide manhunt, but Julian... there's something worse.”
“Speak, Arthur,” Julian ordered.
“Before the raid, Marcus Sterling’s private safe was confiscated by federal agents. Inside, they found an encrypted diary belonging to your late father, Thomas Vance. In the final entry, dated three days before his death, Thomas wrote that he had discovered Vanessa was an operative placed by Sterling Apex Capital. He wrote that he had hidden the original, un-tampered family will and the master decryption key to Vance Global’s core patents inside the safe room of the old Vance Family Estate in the Hudson Valley.”
Julian gripped the phone tightly. “The old estate has been abandoned since my father died.”
“Vanessa knows that,” Arthur warned urgently. “If Vanessa gets to that safe room before we do, she can destroy the original will and use the master key to wipe Vance Global’s servers remotely from an offshore server, crashing the company completely before fleeing the country on a private yacht!”
Julian hung up the phone and looked at Elena. “Marcus! Mobilize the tactical team. We are taking the private chopper to Hudson Valley right now.”
Elena didn't hesitate. “I’m coming with you.”
“Elena, it’s too dangerous,” Julian protested, his protective instinct kicking in. “Vanessa is cornered, desperate, and armed.”
“Vanessa knows who I am, and she knows I will testify against her in court,” Elena said with fierce resolve. “And your father’s diary mentioned the safe room. I spent two years working for an architectural restoration firm before catering—I know historic building layouts. You are not going into that house alone, Julian.”
Julian looked at the fire burning in Elena’s eyes and knew there was no stopping her. He nodded. “Get your tactical vest. We move in five.”
Thirty minutes later, the Vance Global private helicopter cut through the heavy storm clouds over the dense, forested hills of the Hudson Valley. Below them, nestled on a cliff overlooking the Hudson River, stood the grand, gothic Vance Manor—a sprawling stone mansion surrounded by towering iron gates and ancient oak trees.
As the chopper landed on the wet grass of the estate’s lawn, Marcus pointed to the estate’s grand entrance. The heavy wrought-iron doors had been breached, the lock blown open with high-grade breaching foam.
“They’re already inside,” Marcus reported, racking the bolt of his tactical carbine. “Thermal imaging shows three heat signatures on the ground floor and one in the basement archives.”
“Stay behind Marcus and me,” Julian instructed Elena as they disembarked under the pouring rain, the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance.
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They moved swiftly through the shadowed, marble-floored foyer of the mansion. The air inside was cold, smelling of old wood, dust, and ozone from the breached electronic security doors.
Suddenly, gunfire erupted from the grand staircase!
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