Chapter 28 - THE PARISIAN VAULT
At ten o'clock the following morning, Clara and Ethan entered the ancient subterranean vaults of the Banque de France.
An elderly French bank officer unlocked a heavy brass safety deposit box, leaving them alone in the private stone room.
Clara lifted the heavy lid of the box, finding three leather-bound journals and a sealed black envelope stamped with red wax.
The red wax seal bore the crest of the Sterling family, but the initials stamped into the wax were not Eleanor's.
Clara broke the seal carefully, pulling out a document printed on official diplomatic paper from 1995.
The title across the top of the page read: "GLOBAL ASSET TRANSFER AGREEMENT: STERLING INTERNATIONAL TRUST."
Ethan leaned over her shoulder, his eyes scanning the international bank routing numbers listed in the appendix.
"Clara... look at the secondary beneficiary listed on page four," Ethan pointed out, his voice sharp with sudden surprise.
Clara turned to page four, her breath catching in her throat as she read the name typed in crisp black ink.
The secondary beneficiary of the fifty-billion-dollar global trust was not Eleanor, Julian, or Clara.
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The named beneficiary was Ethan Vance.
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