The False Bottom
218 Words
"What were they looking for, Ma? The will? I have the keycard," Leo said, his voice low and dangerous.
"Not the will," Elena said, grabbing his wrist. Her grip was surprisingly strong. "The insurance. Julian knew his daughters would try to kill his memory. He hid a file. He told me if he ever stopped sending the 'maintenance' checks for my medicine, it meant the wolves were at the door."
Leo went to the hole in the ceiling. He reached up into the dark, dusty crawlspace. His fingers brushed against something cold and plastic. He pulled.
It wasn't a suitcase. It was a weather-sealed, fireproof document bag. Inside was a single, crimson-colored leather folder.
Leo opened it on the kitchen table, beneath the jagged hole in the ceiling. As he flipped through the pages, the "Urban Drama" shifted into a "Political Conspiracy."
The folder didn't contain bank statements. It contained The Oakhaven Buyback Plan.
Leo realized with a jolt of horror that the "90-day probation" wasn't a test of his leadership. It was a distraction. While Leo was busy trying to save his 49% of the docks, the folder revealed that Vane Global had already secretly bought the debt of every tenement building in the South End—including this one.
- Writer
