Chapter 8 - The Swiss Vault
Thirty minutes later, Marcus and I were escorted deep into the underground vault of the Swiss Union Bank on Wall Street.
The heavy steel vault door whirred as the security officer turned the dual keys. A massive safe deposit box was slid out of the wall and placed on a private viewing table.
I inserted the silver key my father had given me into the lock. It turned with a smooth, heavy click.
Inside the box lay a black leather journal, a micro-flash drive, and an original copy of a corporate ownership agreement.
Marcus gasped as he looked over my shoulder at the corporate agreement. “This... this is the master share contract for Sterling Global Enterprises.”
“What does it say?” I asked.
“When your mother, Helena, died, fifty-one percent of the controlling shares were supposed to pass into an irrevocable trust for her heir,” Marcus explained, his eyes wide with shock. “But the board presented a forged will claiming she had surrendered her shares back to the executive board—headed by Richard Vance.”
I froze. “Richard Vance? As in... Judge Harrison Vance’s older brother?”
Marcus’s face went dead pale. “Richard Vance is the Chairman of the Board of Sterling Global. He’s the one who hired Eleanor to hide you! He paid her fifty thousand dollars a month to keep you away from New York, ensuring you would never claim those shares!”
The pieces of the puzzle slammed together with terrifying clarity.
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Judge Harrison Vance hadn’t just recognized my name in court three days ago because of my Vanguard scholarship. He had recognized my name because his family had been waiting twenty-five years to ensure I never claimed my real identity.
And by bringing my lawsuit into Judge Vance’s courtroom, I had walked straight into the lion’s den.
