Chapter 31 - THE UNFINISHED GAME
Inside the antique box lay an ancient leather-bound ledger alongside a set of brass keys stamped with a Swiss vault number.
Resting on top of the ledger was a handwritten letter addressed to Eleanor in fresh, dark blue fountain pen ink.
Eleanor unfolded the heavy parchment paper, her eyes scanning the elegant cursive handwriting under the bright coastal sunlight.
"My dearest Eleanor," the letter read. "You believe you have conquered the Sterling empire and reclaimed your dignity."
"In truth, you have merely cleared the board of my incompetent son and his arrogant offspring."
"The eighteen million dollars Carter handed you was never his money—it was a tracer code designed to unlock your grandfather's true global vault."
"If you wish to protect the twin children Chloe abandoned in New York, you will come alone to the Grand Hotel in Vienna on Friday."
Eleanor looked up from the parchment, staring out toward the endless blue horizon of the Atlantic Ocean as a sudden cold wind swept over the coast.
Beside her, Marcus’s phone rang loudly with an urgent notification from the New York State Child Protective Services.
May you like
"Eleanor..." Marcus said, looking up from his phone screen with extreme shock written across his face. "The twin infants... someone just abducted them from the state care facility twenty minutes ago."
Eleanor gripped the parchment tightly in her hand, her blue eyes narrowing into slits of pure, lethal determination as the dark clouds rolled over the sky.
