Chapter Twenty One. The First Move

None of us  brought it up.

We both pretended as if nothing happened. 

He told everyone about the plan. I asked questions and tried to avoid looking at him.

It did not work well.

Every time he spoke I knew where he was in the room. Our eyes met across the table and we looked at each other for a second too long before we looked away.

Grace noticed. I could tell by the way she looked at us and said nothing. Grace is the kind of woman who notices everything and says nothing.

My mother noticed too.. She said something at the worst possible time.

She came up to me while I was standing by the window and said very quietly:

"He looks at you the way your father used to look at me before things got complicated."

"Mum, " I said.

"I am just saying," she walked away.

I put my forehead against the window and told myself to focus.

Ethan's team had found Elena's address. The house was real. It matched what we were looking for.. They used a drone to take pictures, which showed people inside. Several people, one of whom was alone in a room upstairs.

The uncle was there.

Ethan came to find me an hour before they were going to move.

"You are not coming, " he said.

"I did not ask to come, " I said.

"Good, " he said. Then he said, "Sofia before I go there is something I need you to do."

He gave me a folder. Inside were documents. The founding documents that started the company. The records of the trust. A formal letter from his lawyers to the Voss Holdings board.

"If something goes wrong tonight " he said, "I need you to file these papers. Your grandfather's shares give you the power to make decisions. Use it. Protect the company. Protect yourself."

I looked at the documents.

Then I looked at Ethan.

"Nothing is going to go wrong, " I said.

"I know, " he said. ". If it does."

I took the folder.

"Come back " I said, quietly like I was not sure I wanted him to hear it.

He heard it.

He looked at me for a moment. Then he said:

"I intend to."

He left.

I sat in that room with the folder in my lap. My heart was beating fast.

An hour passed.

Then two hours passed.

My father sat with me. He did not say much. He just sat, which was enough.

Then my phone rang.

Not Ethan. His security team leader.

"Ms Wren we have a problem. Mr Voss needs you to file those papers now. Tonight. Do not wait."

"What happened? " I said, my voice flat.

"The house was empty, " he said. "He was not there. It was a trap.. Ms Wren your uncle just filed a court order. He says the trust is not valid and he wants to freeze all the assets, including your grandfather's shares in Voss Holdings. If you do not file the papers within two hours the court will accept his version first."

I was already standing up.

"Where is Ethan? “I said.

Then a pause that lasted too long.

"Mr Voss is. We lost contact with him twenty minutes ago."

I had the folder in my hand.

My father was standing up.

Grace was already at the door with her coat on.

I looked at the papers my grandfather had left me. The shares, the power to make decisions, everything he had built and protected for me before I was even born.

Then I looked at my father.

"Call your lawyer, " I said. "Tell him we are coming."

I walked to the door.

My uncle had been one step ahead of us the entire time.

Tonight that stopped.

Ethan was not answering his phone.

I pushed that thought away and kept walking.

Because if I let myself think about it now I would not be able to move.

I had to move.