The slap broke Rebecca’s front tooth before she even understood she had been hit.

Chapter 17: The Shadow of the Patriarch

The storm hit the city an hour later, rain slanting hard against the glass panels of Maya’s office.

Police officers had secured the building, but the atmosphere inside was tense, heavy with anticipation. Rebecca sat in a private office, holding Emma tightly in her lap. The little girl was fast asleep, unaware of the armed guards outside the heavy wooden door.

Detective Dana Ortiz entered, shaking the water from her raincoat.

"We traced the cut monitor," Ortiz reported, leaning against the desk. "Trevor had help. Professional help. A black SUV picked him up near the harbor. The vehicle is registered to a shell company tied to Malcolm Harlan."

"Malcolm," Rebecca said, rubbing her temples. "He's not leaving the country. He's trying to clean up the mess before he goes."

"We located Malcolm's primary residence," Ortiz continued. "It's empty. But we intercepted a phone transmission from a burner phone registered to Trevor. It pinged near the old Harlan family estate in the hills."

Grace stepped forward from the corner of the room, her green folder tucked firmly under her arm. "That’s where the private archives are kept. Malcolm has a safe-deposit vault in the basement of that house. If Trevor is there, he’s not trying to run. He’s retrieving the hard drives."

"Why?" Rebecca asked. "He already gave his legal team what he wanted."

"Because of the secondary files," Grace replied coldly. "The ones detailing the financial routes between your father’s foundation and Malcolm’s off-shore accounts. Trevor doesn't just want freedom, Rebecca. He wants leverage. He wants to ensure that if he goes down, your father—and you—go down with him."

Rebecca looked down at Emma's innocent face, then at her own swollen stomach. She felt the baby kick again—a sharp, insistent reminder of life persisting in the middle of chaos.

"He thinks I'm still afraid of the truth," Rebecca said quietly. She looked up at Detective Ortiz. "He thinks if he threatens my family's name, I'll back down like my mother did. Like Elise did."

"Rebecca, you're not going anywhere near that house," Ortiz stated firmly. "We have a tactical unit deploying to the perimeter right now."

"He won't open the vault for the police," Grace interrupted. "The vault has a multi-factor lock tied to biometric access and a legacy key. A key that only three people possess: Malcolm, Trevor... and my mother, who gave her copy to Catherine before she died."