Chapter 36 - The Midnight Flight
By midnight, they were driving an unregistered four-wheel-drive pickup truck down treacherous mountain switchbacks.
The blizzard had intensified, blanketing the highway in a thick sheet of blinding white powder.
Emily worked feverishly on an encrypted laptop balanced on her knees, connecting to a private satellite uplink.
"Marcus bypassed the secondary firewall," Emily announced, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "I have access to Arthur’s private Swiss banking accounts."
Daniel kept both hands locked onto the steering wheel, fighting the icy ruts of the deserted highway.
"Tell me what you see," Daniel said, squinting through the sweeping windshield wipers.
"Wire transfers," Emily replied, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Millions of dollars. Dating back twenty years."
She clicked through several nested folders, uncovering scanned documents labeled with red confidential stamps.
"Daniel... look at this," Emily said, turning the glowing screen toward him.
Daniel glanced down for half a second before snapping his attention back to the treacherous road.
"What am I looking at?" he asked.
"It's a life insurance payout," Emily explained, her voice dropping to a horrified whisper. "Fifty million dollars on your father’s life, deposited into an offshore shell company in the Cayman Islands."
"Who was the sole beneficiary?" Daniel demanded, his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel.
"Arthur Van Allen," Emily read aloud. "Authorized three days before your father collapsed in his office."
Daniel let out a low, venomous growl, stomping on the accelerator as the truck barreled toward Denver.
"He murdered my father to take the company," Daniel said through clenched teeth. "And now he wants Emily dead so nobody can contest the original trust terms."
"Why me, Daniel?" Emily asked, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Why would my marriage to you threaten him so much?"
"Because my father’s final will had an ironclad moral clause," Daniel revealed, glancing at her. "The entire estate transferred permanently to me only upon entering a legitimate marriage not arranged by the corporate board."
Emily gasped, clutching her chest as the full puzzle clicked into place.
"Victoria wanted you to marry an heiress so Arthur could control the combined assets," she realized.
"And when I chose you instead," Daniel said, "Arthur lost his legal right to touch the fortune."
A private airfield appeared through the blizzard ahead, its runway lights cutting through the blinding storm.
Waiting on the tarmac was a sleek, unmarked Gulfstream jet with its twin engines whining into the night.
Marcus stood at the base of the stairs, wearing a heavy parka, waving them forward with a glowing signal wand.
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"Where are we going?" Emily asked as Daniel killed the truck’s engine.
"To Manhattan," Daniel said, opening his door into the freezing wind. "To take back our name."
