Chapter 7 - The Night Someone Came for Elara
The address belonged to an abandoned industrial building near the river.
Vadim refused to let Elara go alone.
Elara refused not to go.
They compromised in the way married people sometimes do.
Neither got what they wanted.
Vadim brought twelve armed men.
Elara said nothing.
Inside, they found Cassandra.
She looked nothing like the poised woman from the wedding.
Her expensive dress was gone.
She wore jeans, sneakers, and an oversized coat.
She had been crying.
“Elara.”
Elara stopped.
For years, Cassandra had seemed like their father's favorite weapon.
Beautiful where Elara was mocked.
Praised where Elara was hidden.
But standing there now, Cassandra looked frightened.
“You sent the photographs?”
“Yes.”
“You entered Vadim's house?”
“No.”
Vadim's expression sharpened.
“Then who did?”
Cassandra shook her head.
“I only sent the bank information.”
She looked at Elara.
“Dad's been stealing from you for years.”
“I know.”
“No. You know part of it.”
Cassandra opened a laptop.
Records filled the screen.
Gerald had siphoned more than sixty million dollars.
But several transfers went somewhere else.
To accounts belonging to Viktor Sokolov.
Vadim's cousin.
Elara looked at her husband.
“Who is Viktor?”
Vadim's expression became deadly.
“A man who should not be involved.”
Cassandra continued.
“Your father and Viktor have been partners for eleven years.”
Vadim went silent.
That explained the marriage differently.
Gerald had not simply needed Vadim.
Perhaps Viktor needed Elara inside Vadim's house.
Elara remembered the intruder.
“Anton Volkov?”
Cassandra shook her head.
“He was working for Mom.”
Elara stared.
“What?”
“Before she died.”
Cassandra had found Evelyn's old files.
Anton had been hired privately to investigate Gerald.
His brother had later been killed.
Viktor's name appeared in both cases.
Vadim walked away from the table.
Elara followed.
“You didn't know.”
“No.”
She believed him.
That realization surprised her.
“Vadim.”
He looked at her.
“I believe you.”
Something changed in his face.
Not relief exactly.
Something deeper.
Cassandra interrupted.
“There is more.”
Of course there was.
Evelyn's car crash occurred after she arranged to meet Alexei Sokolov.
Vadim's father.
Alexei never arrived.
Someone had sent him a false message canceling the meeting.
Three years later, Alexei died in what police called a robbery.
Vadim looked at the records.
“My father wasn't robbed.”
Cassandra shook her head.
“No.”
Two families.
Two deaths.
One partnership.
Gerald Fagan and Viktor Sokolov.
Vadim's phone rang.
His security chief.
Vadim listened.
Then his face changed.
“What happened?” Elara asked.
He hung up.
“Someone attacked the house.”
“Anna?”
“Safe.”
“The staff?”
“Safe.”
“What did they want?”
Vadim looked at her.
“You.”
The attackers had searched Elara's room.
Nothing else.
Her clothing was scattered.
Drawers emptied.
Mattress cut open.
But the pendant was with her.
“What are they looking for?”
Cassandra suddenly stared at the necklace.
“Give me that.”
Elara removed it.
Cassandra examined the scratched numbers.
Then twisted the silver casing.
It opened.
Inside was a tiny old-fashioned key.
Elara stared.
“What does it open?”
Cassandra looked at the numbers again.
“Not a bank box.”
Vadim understood first.
“A storage unit.”
They traced it to a private facility purchased by North Star decades earlier.
Unit 11.
Building 7.
Row 19.
Locker 4.
They arrived after midnight.
Vadim broke the rusted lock.
Inside stood one metal cabinet.
Elara inserted the tiny key.
It fit.
She opened the drawer.
There was one envelope.
FOR ELARA.
Inside was a handwritten letter from Evelyn.
Elara unfolded it.
The first line made her knees buckle.
May you like
Gerald Fagan is not your biological father.
Behind them, someone cocked a gun.
