Chapter 8: Journey to Maine**
Under the cover of a torrential autumn rainstorm, Elena and Eleanor left for the Vance summer estate in Camden, Maine. Eleanor refused to take the company jet or any of the usual chauffeurs, opting instead for an unmarked rental car.
The Maine property was a sprawling Victorian manor perched on a rocky cliff overlooking the churning Atlantic. It had been boarded up and abandoned since the tragedy, an eerie monument to a shattered family. The air smelled of salt, pine, and decades of damp decay.
Elena followed Eleanor down a winding, overgrown stone path leading to the private boat house at the edge of the water. The wooden structure groaned against the battering waves.
Elena took out the rusted brass key Marcus had given her. At the back of the boat house, hidden behind rotting wooden crates and old fishing tackle, was a heavy iron locker bolted to the stone foundation.
With a hard twist, the lock clicked open.
Inside lay a weather-sealed waterproof case. Elena unbuckled the latches, revealing a stack of financial ledgers, audio cassette tapes, and a sealed letter written in her father’s bold handwriting, addressed to the United States Department of Justice.
"Arthur's handwriting," Eleanor whispered, tracing the ink with tears streaming down her face.
May you like
Elena opened the ledger. The transactions detailed millions of dollars systematically siphoned from Vance shipping ports into offshore shell companies—all signed off under Richard Vance’s personal authorization. But at the bottom of the stack was something far more horrifying: an unsigned wire transfer receipt dated the day before Elena’s kidnapping, made out to an untraceable account under the memo: *Ward Family Silence.*
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