Part 26
Late that night, while Lily slept peacefully under the watchful eye of a trusted security guard I had hired, I went up to the attic.
Deep in the corner, hidden behind old boxes of winter clothes, was a small, dusty plastic tub.
It contained the few personal items I had taken from the Vance mansion before the banks seized everything.
I dragged it into the light and began sorting through old journals, photographs, and legal notices.
Near the bottom, wrapped in a silk scarf, was an old, leather-bound diary that had belonged to Jason.
He was never a man of deep thoughts, but he was a man of intense paranoia.
He kept records of everyone who had ever slighted him, a petty ledger of grievances.
I flipped through the pages until I found an entry dated three years ago, right around the time his company received its largest investment from the Vanguard Group.
The handwriting was messy, written in a drunken state.
'Sterling thinks he owns me,' the entry read.
'He thinks I don't know where the money is coming from. But I'm not a fool. If he tries to dump me, I have the Swiss vault key. Box 884. The ledger inside will put him in the dirt forever.'
My breath hitched in my throat.
A Swiss vault key. Box 884.
I dug deeper into the plastic tub, dumping out old keychains, broken watches, and loose change.
And there, at the very bottom, was a small, heavy silver key with the emblem of a private Swiss bank etched into the metal.
Jason had hidden it in plain sight, thinking his wife was too oblivious to ever look for it.
He had died financially before he could ever use it against his mentor.
I held the cold metal in my palm, a dangerous smile spreading across my face.
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Victor Sterling wanted to use a fabricated folder to destroy my life.
I was holding the actual truth that would end his.
