Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN THEY WANTED TO FRAME
By noon, I was terrified of checking my own phone.
Every passing car looked suspicious.
Every stranger seemed to know my name.
Caleb brought me to a small law office above a bookstore in Lincoln Park.
The attorney, Elena Park, was in her forties, with sharp eyes and the calm confidence of someone who had spent years facing powerful men.
She also knew American Sign Language.
“Evan was my friend,” she told me after greeting Caleb in ASL.
My eyes filled.
“You knew him too?”
“He helped me establish a legal assistance program for deaf adults. He was one of the kindest people I've ever met.”
Elena examined the banking records.
Within minutes, her expression changed.
“These accounts are connected to companies controlled by Victor Sloane.”
“Who is he?”
“Dominic Vale's second-in-command. The man wearing the silver ring.”
I felt cold.
Caleb signed something quickly.
Elena translated.
“Victor has spent years convincing Dominic that Caleb can't understand financial matters. It's how he gained control over several businesses.”
I looked at Caleb.
You've understood everything all along?
Almost everything, he answered. They never bothered hiding anything from me.
The realization made me sick.
Dominic's cruelty had created the perfect cover for someone even more dangerous.
Elena continued examining the documents.
“The account in your name is a setup, Hannah. If Sloane is investigated, these records could make you his scapegoat.”
“Can you prove they're fake?”
“I can prove the signatures don't match your records. But we need the original authorization.”
Caleb opened Evan's notebook.
Near the back was a reference to an old security archive.
Underneath, Evan had written two words.
Original orders.
Elena accessed a copied document on the storage drive.
A scanned instruction appeared on her computer screen.
It was dated fourteen years earlier.
Three days before the explosion at the Vale lake house.
The document authorized a security team to remove witnesses and destroy certain property.
At the bottom was a name.
Dominic Vale.
Beside it was a short handwritten instruction.
Burn the house. Leave no evidence.
I stared at Caleb.
His face had gone pale.
If the document was genuine, his own father had authorized the operation that supposedly killed his mother.
Then Elena noticed something.
“The document may be authentic,” she said slowly, “but that doesn't prove the signature is.”
Before she could explain, the office telephone rang.
Elena answered.
She listened without speaking.
Then she turned toward us.
“Dominic Vale knows you're here.”
May you like
Her face was suddenly drained of color.
“And he wants both of you brought to his mansion.”
