Part 8: The Mysterious Witness
The black sedan slowly accelerates and disappears into the darkness of the country road as the inspector points to it. My heart skips a beat. Who was in that car? And why were they watching us so closely? Inspector De Jong immediately orders a surveillance car to follow the vehicle, but the narrow country roads offer too many escape routes. "This was no accidental spectator, Lucas," the inspector says seriously.
"Someone knew your father and mother would be taken in today. Someone who knows more about the Vance family empire than we currently have on paper." Lawyer Harrison nods in agreement and pulls a small, encrypted USB stick from his inner pocket, carefully pressing it into my hand. "This was hidden in the lining of your grandmother's diary, Lucas. She knew her own children would betray her.
She trusted no one except you, but she warned that a more vicious player operates behind the scenes — an old business partner who is the true mastermind behind the family's downfall." As the firefighters extinguish the final blazing hotspots of the estate, I get into the lawyer's car to be taken to a safe location in Amsterdam. Along the way, I close my eyes and think of the words in grandma's diary.
Who is this mysterious business partner? And why has he kept the Vance family in his grip for so long? The next morning, I wake up early in a quiet apartment on the Singel. I plug the USB stick into my laptop. A single file appears on the screen: a video message from Grandma Evelyn, recorded just hours before her death. I click play and watch her tired but determined eyes look into the lens. "Lucas," says her trembling voice, "if you're seeing this, I'm gone. The key to everything doesn't lie in the inheritance, but in the hidden vault beneath the old headquarters on the Herengracht. And mind you... the one who poisoned me is already in your executive board."
