Maya found a dry corner in an all-night diner. She ordered a coffee she barely drank, pulled out her cheap cell phone, and stared at the sealed envelope. To Marcus Vance.
If she handed this over to Marcus blindly, how could she trust he wouldn't just hand it to Veronica to secure his own job? She needed leverage.
Maya carefully slid her fingernail under the wax seal, popping it loose without tearing the paper. She unfolded the heavy legal document inside and smoothed it out on the diner table. She read it twice to make sure she understood it.
Eleanor had revoked Veronica's inheritance entirely. The entire two-billion-dollar Sterling empire was going into a charitable trust, overseen by an independent board.
But there was a handwritten addendum at the bottom, signed by two independent witnesses whom Maya recognized as old family friends.
"Should my daughter, Veronica, attempt to challenge this will or force me into medical care against my will, I hereby authorize Marcus Vance to release the attached financial audits to the State Attorney General, detailing Veronica’s unauthorized embezzlement from the Sterling Foundation over the last five years."
Maya smiled, a hard, determined edge settling in her chest.
Veronica wasn't just greedy. She was covering up a massive crime.
At 6:00 A.M., Maya called the main office line for Vance & Partners. When the answering service picked up, she demanded the emergency contact number for Marcus Vance.
"I'm sorry, I cannot release that—"
"Tell him it's Maya from the Sterling Estate," Maya interrupted, her voice dead serious. "Tell him I have the blue music box. And tell him if he isn't waiting in his car outside the estate gates at 7:30 A.M., the Attorney General gets an email about the foundation’s audits."
Ten minutes later, her phone buzzed with a text message from an unknown number.
Don't do anything stupid. 7:30. At the gates. - M. Vance.
Chapter 3: The Beneficiary
The morning air was thick with mist as Maya stood by the massive wrought-iron gates of the Sterling Estate. At exactly 7:30 A.M., a sleek black town car pulled up to the curb.
The back window rolled down, revealing Marcus Vance. He looked entirely undisturbed in a fresh charcoal suit, but his dark eyes were razor-sharp.
"Get in," he commanded.
Maya didn't move. She stood on the wet pavement in her wrinkled, mud-stained grey uniform. "I'm not getting in. We are going inside together."
Marcus let out a slow, controlled breath. "You were fired last night for assaulting the heiress to this estate. If I walk in there with you, I am validating a trespasser. Now, give me whatever document Eleanor told you to steal, and I will handle it."
"She didn't tell me to steal it. She told me to protect it," Maya said flatly. She pulled the amber vial from her pocket and held it up to the window. "This is concentrated Scopolamine. It’s what Veronica has been feeding her mother for six months to simulate dementia."
Marcus stared at the vial. A tiny muscle in his jaw flexed.
"And I have the new Will," Maya continued, refusing to break eye contact. "The one that cuts Veronica out entirely and exposes her embezzlement. I know you know about the missing money, Mr. Vance. You’re the estate lawyer. You’ve been waiting for Eleanor to give you the green light to act on it."
Marcus’s expression hardened. He was a man who calculated odds for a living, and Maya watched him calculate the weight of the poor maid standing in the rain versus the billionaire heiress waiting in the library.