Chapter 10 - Twenty-Four Million Dollars
Ethan read the agreement three times.
Sarah watched from across his study.
Twenty-four million dollars.
The number changed everything.
Victoria had not merely supported her brother’s business interests.
She had been personally promised a fortune if Hale Biomedical was sold.
The fee was structured as a consulting payment through her private company.
Ethan looked at Nora.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“You negotiated with Meridian.”
“I negotiated with Lucas.”
“And you never saw this?”
“No.”
The forensic analyst, Priya Shah, appeared on a secure video call.
“This document was stored as an attachment in an email sent from Lucas Crane to Victoria Crane.”
“When?” Ethan asked.
“March fourteenth.”
Six months ago.
Two months before Ethan proposed.
Priya continued.
“The subject line was ‘Family Path.’”
Sarah felt uneasy.
“Can you open the email?”
“I can show metadata from the copied mailbox. The body is short.”
Priya read it.
V—Fee works if family control is consolidated before exclusivity. M says continuity paperwork can solve voting issue. Keep E comfortable. —L
Nobody spoke.
Ethan finally asked:
“M?”
Nora answered.
“Marcus.”
Priya said, “Likely, but we cannot establish identity from an initial alone.”
Sarah focused on another phrase.
“Keep E comfortable.”
Ethan heard it too.
He leaned back.
“She was managing me.”
Nora said quietly, “Yes.”
The discovery was shared with Detective Ruiz.
Ruiz cautioned them that financial evidence did not automatically prove Victoria’s actions around Leo were part of a criminal conspiracy.
“You need to separate what you know from what you suspect.”
Ethan said, “She stood to make twenty-four million dollars if she controlled a voting block.”
“Potentially.”
“She was forging caregiving records.”
“We don’t know who altered them.”
“She had access.”
“So did others.”
Sarah respected Ruiz more each time the detective refused to become emotionally convenient.
Evidence, not outrage.
That afternoon, Ruiz interviewed Victoria again.
Victoria denied knowing about altered care logs.
She admitted the consulting agreement existed but described it as a legitimate success fee for strategic advisory services.
She claimed Ethan knew about it.
He did not.
Then Victoria’s attorney released another statement.
This one accused Ethan of attempting to “weaponize private financial negotiations to distract from the assault committed against Ms. Crane by a household employee.”
Sarah’s name spread online.
Pictures from the staffing agency website appeared.
Strangers called her a liar.
A gold digger.
A jealous maid.
Someone posted her apartment building address.
Detective Ruiz advised her not to return home alone.
Ethan offered the guest house.
Sarah resisted.
“I don’t want people saying you’re hiding me.”
“You’re a witness in a case involving my home.”
Mrs. Alvarez added, “And someone has published where you live.”
Sarah accepted.
That night, she sat inside the guest house staring at boxes she had packed from her apartment.
Everything about her life suddenly seemed temporary.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She declined it.
It rang again.
Then a voicemail appeared.
Sarah listened.
Victoria’s voice.
“Sarah, this has gone far enough.”
Sarah immediately stopped the message and called Detective Ruiz.
Ruiz told her not to respond.
“Forward the voicemail.”
Sarah did.
Later, with Ethan and Ruiz present, they listened to the entire recording.
Victoria sounded calm.
“I know you think you’re protecting Leo. But Ethan will eventually realize what this is costing him. The company. His family. His reputation. Walk away now, and I’ll make sure your agency reinstates you. I’ll also compensate you for the misunderstanding.”
Sarah looked at Ruiz.
“That sounds like a bribe.”
“It may become evidence of witness pressure. Do not characterize it publicly.”
The message continued.
“You were loyal to Amelia. I understand that. But Amelia is gone. The family has to move forward.”
Sarah’s expression changed.
Ruiz noticed.
“What?”
“Play that part again.”
They did.
You were loyal to Amelia.
Sarah whispered, “Victoria always told me Amelia barely mentioned staff to her.”
Ethan frowned.
“So?”
“She knew Amelia and I were close.”
Victoria’s voice continued:
“You think Amelia trusted you because she asked you to protect Leo. She asked everyone to protect him. You weren’t special.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
Ethan froze.
Only three people knew Amelia had asked Sarah to protect Leo.
Sarah.
Ethan.
And Daniel Mercer, who had heard the story two days earlier.
Victoria could not have known.
Unless Amelia had told her.
Or Victoria had read it somewhere.
Sarah remembered the missing notebook page.
Ethan said, “She saw the notebook.”
Ruiz asked, “Can you prove that?”
“No.”
Sarah thought harder.
“There might be a way.”
During Amelia’s final months, Sarah had photographed pages containing medication instructions so she could access them from downstairs.
She had changed phones since then.
But her old photographs might still exist in cloud storage.
Ethan pulled a chair beside her.
Sarah opened an account she had not used in two years.
Thousands of photographs loaded.
Leo as a newborn.
Amelia smiling weakly beside him.
Hospital flowers.
Medication schedules.
Then Sarah found the yellow notebook.
Photographed on April 18.
Two years earlier.
She zoomed in.
The left page matched the notebook now in evidence.
The right page was the one currently missing.
Everyone leaned closer.
Amelia had written:
Victoria said Sarah is too attached to Leo and should be replaced before I’m gone. I told her Sarah stays. She became angry.
Below it:
If Victoria ever tries to remove Sarah, show Ethan this page.
Sarah stared at the words.
Victoria had wanted her gone before Amelia was even dead.
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
And underneath, Amelia had written one final line.
I think Victoria has been going through Ethan’s financial papers.
