Chapter 8 - I RECORDED THE CALL HE THOUGHT WOULD BREAK ME
The Blue Lantern phone recorded automatically.
Julian didn’t know.
Serena had warned me before answering.
“Keep him talking.”
So I did.
“What temporary control agreement?”
“The one Rebecca has.”
“She says it’s forged.”
“It’s a draft.”
“My signature is on it.”
A pause.
“Technical issue.”
I almost laughed.
“Did you take my passport?”
“I secured it.”
“You stole it.”
“I needed time.”
“For what?”
“To stop you from doing something impulsive with the trust.”
There it was.
He had spent months building a story where protecting himself became protecting me.
“Why Maya?”
His voice softened.
“She’s my daughter too.”
“Then why tell her I chose to stay in Thailand?”
Silence.
“Why take her while she was asleep?”
Another silence.
Then:
“Mom gave her children’s sleep medicine because the flight was early.”
My blood froze.
“You gave Maya medication?”
“Mom did.”
Without telling me.
Without asking.
Then he said:
“She’s fine.”
People say that when they know fine is not the point.
I asked:
“Did you drug me too?”
“No.”
Too fast.
“Did Evelyn?”
“I don’t know.”
Lie.
I could hear it.
Then Julian changed tactics.
“Amelia, your father’s company is complicated. You’ve never wanted to run it.”
“That doesn’t make it yours.”
“I can protect it.”
“By taking $4.8 million?”
“That was temporary.”
“For your business?”
Silence.
“Julian.”
“Yes.”
Finally.
A confession.
Not complete.
Enough.
He continued:
“If Vance Strategic collapses, hundreds of people get hurt.”
“How many employees?”
“Forty-three.”
Not hundreds.
Forty-three.
His fear had expanded numbers just like his entitlement expanded permission.
“Bring Maya back.”
“Sign first.”
“No.”
His breathing changed.
“Think carefully.”
“I am.”
“You’re alone in Thailand.”
Not anymore.
But I let him believe it.
Then he said:
“You have no passport.”
I looked at Serena across the room.
She smiled.
My emergency travel document appointment was already scheduled.
“You have no phone.”
I looked at the Blue Lantern handset.
“Julian.”
“Yes?”
“You built this plan around what you could take from me.”
Silence.
“You forgot to ask what I still knew.”
I ended the call.
Ten minutes later, Rebecca forwarded the recording to the appropriate investigators and court.
Then she called back.
“Amelia, we found another message.”
Between Julian and Evelyn.
Dated three months earlier.
EVELYN: What if Blue Lantern is real?
JULIAN: She hasn’t used that family nonsense in years.
EVELYN: And if she remembers?
JULIAN: Then we need Maya in the U.S. before she does.
May you like
They had known there was a risk.
They simply believed I had become too dependent on Julian to remember how to save myself.
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