Chapter 5 - The Night the House Filled With SmokeRobert Vance was sixty-two.
Private equity.
Real estate.
Distressed debt.
A man who specialized in buying things from people who could no longer afford to keep them.
He had loaned Daniel more than forty million dollars.
In exchange, Daniel had promised repayment from future inheritance.
Legally meaningless without Eleanor’s cooperation.
Robert apparently planned to change that.
Police could not yet prove he had ordered any harm.
Then Eleanor’s house nearly killed her.
It happened at 2:14 in the morning.
Lily woke to an alarm.
Not the smoke detector.
The carbon monoxide monitor near her room.
She ran into the hallway.
“Grandma!”
Eleanor’s bedroom door was open.
She was confused.
Sleepy.
Lily grabbed her.
They left the house.
Firefighters arrived.
The heating system had malfunctioned.
At first, everyone called it mechanical failure.
Then a technician found evidence someone had recently tampered with part of the system.
Detective Hale looked furious.
“This house is no longer safe.”
Eleanor folded her arms.
“I am not being driven out of my own home.”
Rebecca answered:
“You are temporarily.”
Eleanor moved into a guarded apartment belonging to the family trust.
Only six people knew the address.
Within forty-eight hours—
flowers arrived.
No card.
White lilies.
Lily stared at them.
“How did anyone know we were here?”
The delivery company had received the order anonymously.
Security footage showed the delivery driver.
Nothing suspicious.
Then Eleanor noticed something attached beneath the vase.
A tiny envelope.
Inside:
SIGN THE OLD TRUST BACK INTO EFFECT.
NEXT TIME LILY MAY BE HOME TOO.
Eleanor’s face changed.
Not fear.
Rage.
For months, every attack had been directed at her.
Now Lily had been threatened.
Eleanor handed the note to Detective Hale.
Then said:
“I want every financial record opened.”
Rebecca stared.
“Every one?”
“Every account.”
“Every family company.”
“Every trust.”
“Every loan Daniel signed.”
Eleanor looked toward Lily.
“They wanted me confused because they were afraid of what I would find.”
May you like
Her voice hardened.
“So let’s find it.”
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