Chapter 6 - VANESSA’S DEMAND
Lucas ran through the wedding guests, shouting Lily’s name.
No one had seen her leave.
Detective Grant pulled surveillance footage from the catering entrance.
The video showed Captain Cole guiding Lily toward a black police SUV.
She appeared frightened but uninjured.
Cole looked straight into the camera before driving away.
“He wanted us to see him,” Grant said.
Lucas’s phone rang.
Vanessa’s name appeared on the screen.
“Where is my daughter?”
“She’s safe for now.”
“If you touch her—”
“Save the threats. You don’t have time.”
A video arrived.
Lily sat inside a stone room with her hands free.
Captain Cole stood near the doorway.
Vanessa held a tablet displaying several financial documents.
“You will come to the old Monterra winery,” she said. “You will sign the revised trust agreement and transfer control of Bennett Development to me.”
“You think a forced signature will hold up in court?”
“It only needs to hold up for six hours.”
“Why six hours?”
“That’s how long I need to move everything beyond your reach.”
Lucas clenched his jaw.
“Let me speak to Lily.”
The camera turned.
“Dad, don’t do what she says.”
Vanessa seized Lily’s shoulder.
Lucas’s voice exploded.
“Take your hands off her!”
Lily stared into the camera.
“The music box has two bottoms.”
Vanessa frowned.
“What did you say?”
Lily kicked backward, knocking the tablet from her hands.
The call ended.
Lucas picked up Rachel’s music box.
He removed the velvet lining.
Beneath it was a thin wooden panel.
Detective Grant pried it open.
Inside they found a flash drive and a brass key taped to an old business card.
The card belonged to First National Bank.
A handwritten number identified a safe-deposit box.
Grant examined the flash drive on his laptop.
It contained payment records, emails, and surveillance photographs connecting Diane, Vanessa, and Captain Cole to years of theft.
One video file showed Vanessa entering Daniel’s garage.
Another showed Cole removing evidence after Rachel’s death.
“This can put them away for life,” Grant said.
Lucas grabbed his jacket.
“And it can get Lily killed if they find out we have it.”
Grant called a federal agent he trusted.
They formed a plan.
Lucas would go to the winery wearing a hidden microphone.
Grant’s team would remain outside until Lily was safe.
As Lucas entered his car, Maria ran after him.
“Wait.”
She handed him an old silver necklace.
“Rachel gave me this the night she died. She said you would understand.”
Lucas opened the locket.
Inside was a tiny photograph of Lily as a baby.
On the back were three engraved numbers.
4-1-7.
“The safe-deposit box?” Grant asked.
Lucas shook his head.
“No. It’s the alarm code for the Monterra winery.”
Then he remembered something else.
The winery had an underground storage chamber.
May you like
Once its steel door closed, it could only be opened from the outside.
And Vanessa had just shown Lily sitting inside it.
