Chapter 16 - The Woman on the Plane
The silence that followed was heavier than the roar of the airplane engines.
I stood paralyzed, staring at the face I had studied on police bulletins, faded flyers, and family photo albums inside Unit 412. Elena Vance was older than the photographs, thinner, with sharp cheekbones and dark circles under her eyes, but there was no mistaking who she was.
"You're alive," Brandon whispered, stepping forward before stopping himself. "Elena... everyone thought..."
"Everyone thought Scott killed me," Elena said. Her voice was raspy, like someone who hadn't spoken at length in weeks. "Or that I took my trust money and disappeared to an island. Isn't that what my father told you, Lauren?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat, keeping my distance. "Arthur said you fled to Europe because you were too weak to fight."
A bitter, hollow laugh escaped Elena’s lips. She looked toward the access road where the police cruisers had just disappeared with Scott.
"My father locked me in a private medical facility in Vermont twenty-two months ago," Elena said, her voice dropping into a register of cold, suppressed rage. "He used my supposed 'mental instability' after Scott took the money to execute a medical power of attorney. He drained the remainder of my mother’s estate, laundered it through Apex, and left me with nothing."
"Then how are you on this plane?" Brandon demanded. "How did you get here?"
"Scott," Elena answered simply.
My stomach plummeted. "Scott knew where you were?"
"Scott didn't just know," Elena said, stepping off the final stair onto the tarmac. "He was the one who paid the facility fees. My father and Scott were blackmailing each other. Scott kept me locked away so my father wouldn't report his embezzlement, and my father let Scott run Apex so he could skim the offshore profits."
She walked toward me until she was standing barely three feet away. She set the small leather briefcase down on the hood of Brandon’s SUV and unlatched the brass locks.
"Three days ago, Scott realized Arthur was preparing to sacrifice him," Elena continued, opening the lid. Inside lay thick stacks of certified cashier's checks, international bearer bonds, and a set of triplicate deeds. "Scott had me discharged under an alias yesterday morning. He told me if I boarded this flight with him to the Caymans, he would return fifty percent of my mother's trust. He needed me on this plane because the foreign accounts require two signatures: his, and the original Vance trustee."
I looked at the mountain of paper inside the case. Millions of dollars. The entire accumulated wealth of two shattered families, neatly packed into an eighteen-inch box.
"He was going to use you again," I said, looking into her eyes.
"He thought he was," Elena said softly. "Scott is remarkably predictable when he's scared. He thought because I spent two years trapped behind closed doors, I would be grateful for whatever scraps he threw me. He didn't realize that while I was in Vermont, the head of patient records had a sister who worked for the state licensing bureau."
She pulled an envelope from the inside pocket of her coat and handed it to me.
"What is this?" I asked.
"That is the legal dissolution of Apex Ventures, signed by the majority shareholder—my mother's estate, which reverted to me the second Arthur was taken into custody tonight," Elena said. "Arthur's power of attorney was revoked four hours ago by a probate judge in Montpelier."
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My fingers tightened around the envelope. "Why are you giving this to me?"
"Because Scott used your name to guarantee the debt, Lauren," Elena said, her expression softening with genuine sorrow. "I know what it’s like to have that man strip your dignity away piece by piece. I know what it’s like to look in the mirror and not recognize the person staring back. But more importantly... I know what’s inside Unit 412."
