Chapter 2: Three Knocks on the East Corridor Wall
Elena's back pressed hard against the table edge.
The champagne pyramid trembled beside her.
Julian's grip tightened.
Then her phone buzzed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times in rapid succession.
Julian snatched it off the table before she could reach it.
His eyes swept the screen — and something shifted in his face.
Not anger.
Something closer to fear.
"Who is this?" he snapped, turning the screen toward her.
The message read: *I'm outside the east corridor door.
I have the original trust documents, Elena.
The ones your mother filed before she changed her name.
Don't sign anything.*
No name.
No number.
Just those two sentences.
Victoria crossed the room in four sharp steps and ripped the phone from Julian's hand.
She stared at the screen.
The pearls at her throat rose and fell.
"It's no one," she said flatly.
But her voice had lost its ice.
"A bluff.
Someone trying to interfere."
"Then why are your hands shaking?" Elena whispered.
Victoria's eyes snapped up.
For the first time since the bolt had clicked shut, the older woman said nothing.
And somewhere beyond the heavy oak doors, three slow knocks landed against the east corridor wall — calm, deliberate, and completely certain.
---
Someone knew the truth before Elena did — and they came prepared.
What they brought with them exposed everything the Vance family had spent twenty-three years trying to bury.
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