Chapter 14 - The Seattle Confession
The rain returned to Chicago the following morning, sheeting against the windows of my lawyer's office in the Loop. Sitting across from me was Amelia. She looked hollowed out, her designer clothes replaced by a simple dark coat, her eyes swollen from sleepless nights.
"I went through my father's private legal vault last night," Amelia said, pushing a thick yellow envelope across the mahogany table toward me. "My father wasn't just representing the hospital, Ryan. He was William's personal corporate trustee in North America."
I opened the envelope. Inside were flight logs, offshore bank receipts, and a signed non-disclosure agreement dated three years ago in Seattle.
"When Grace was in Seattle," Amelia continued, her voice trembling, "my father arranged for her rent to be paid through a blind trust. But it wasn't out of charity. He was monitoring her pregnancy on William's orders. When the triplets were born, William attempted to buy them directly from the hospital, but your mother intervened at the last minute and forced Grace back to Chicago where she could keep her under watch."
"Evelyn wasn't keeping Grace away from me to protect my career," I realized out loud, the final puzzle piece falling into place. "She was keeping Grace close to her so William couldn't kidnap the children."
"Evelyn is a monster, Ryan," Amelia said, looking me dead in the eye. "But she was fighting a war against a bigger monster. And now that Evelyn is in prison, there is no one standing between William and your family. Except you."
May you like
I grabbed the envelope and stood up. "Where is your father now?"
Amelia looked down at her hands. "He boarded a private jet to Geneva two hours ago. But he left something behind in his office safe. A keycard to a private research facility near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin."
