Chapter 14 - The Locked Office
The key opened a records room beneath Vance Components headquarters.
Detective Ruiz insisted we enter with a warrant team, not Lukas.
He waited outside in a patrol car.
The basement smelled like paper and machine oil.
Cabinet 14B held Project Continuity.
Not copies.
Originals.
There were background reports on Sophia.
My fertility timeline.
Jonas's litigation strategy.
Draft paternity affidavits.
A proposed press release describing Sophia as "emotionally volatile."
Then Ruiz found a folder with my photograph on it.
Inside were notes documenting my work schedule, doctors, medication dates, therapy appointments after our second failed IVF cycle, and even the names of two coworkers I had confided in.
I felt exposed in a way nudity could not match.
"They watched me," I said.
Nina turned a page.
"For years."
At the bottom of the box was a sealed envelope labeled E.V. - ESCALATION.
Ruiz opened it.
The first page was a draft petition to have me evaluated for involuntary psychiatric treatment.
The second was a list of statements family members could make if I resisted the baby placement.
Erratic after infertility.
Obsessed with motherhood.
Threatened pregnant mother.
I looked at Lukas through the glass door across the hall.
He had known enough to unlock this room.
Ruiz found one final document.
A payment authorization for $30,000.
Recipient: Peter Voller.
Purpose: POST-BIRTH ACTION.
The approval line carried two signatures.
Ingrid Vance.
And Lukas Vance.
I walked outside holding the copy.
Lukas stood when he saw me.
"Evelyn-"
I held up the page.
"Tell me what post-birth action means."
May you like
He stared at his own signature.
Then whispered, "I never signed that."
