Chapter 41 David’s Letter
I didn’t open it in the bank.
Zael didn’t ask me to. He simply walked with me out of the building and into the quiet street, stood beside me while I looked at the envelope in my hands.
“There’s a café two streets down,” he said.
We walked.
The café was quiet at this hour. Mid-morning lull. A few people on laptops. A woman with a toddler near the window. Normal things. Ordinary things.
We took the table furthest from the door.
Zael ordered coffee we didn’t touch.
I opened the envelope.
Two pages. My father’s handwriting… the same precise unhurried hand I had found in notebooks, on documents and on the back of a photograph that changed everything. I read slowly. Not because the words were difficult but because each sentence landed with the full weight of a man who had written knowing he might not be alive when his daughter read it.
Seraphine.
If you are reading this then I wasn’t able to finish what I started. I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry for a great many things but most of all I’m sorry that you had to carry what should have been mine to carry.
I stopped.
Breathed.
Kept reading.
I know about Gerald. I have known for longer than you might expect… not just the fraud, not just the financial crimes, but the other thing. The thing with your mother.
I want you to understand that I don’t write this to hurt you or to change how you see her. Your mother was manipulated by a man who is very good at making people believe they are choosing freely when he has already decided the outcome for them. She loved me. I believe that. I also believe she was afraid and that fear made her choices for her in the end.
I put the page down.
Picked it up again.
Across the table Zael was looking at his coffee. Giving me what I needed without being asked for it.
I have hidden two sets of evidence. The first you should already have… through Odette, through the box, through the things I left in the study. If you found this letter it means you found those things and Gerald found them too. Which means he has half and you have half and neither of you has enough.
My eyes moved faster.
The second half is inside Callum Corporation. In the building Gerald has been running as though it belongs to him. Conference room B on the third floor. Behind the east wall panel… second from the left. The panel releases with pressure applied to the lower right corner. Inside is a sealed case. It has been there since I installed it eight years ago. Gerald has walked past it every single working day and never once looked.
I set the page down.
I looked at Zael.
He looked at me.
“He hid it inside the company,” I said.
“Inside Callum Corporation.” Zael’s voice was quiet.
“The building Gerald runs.”
“Conference room B. Third floor. Behind a wall panel.” I picked up the letter again. “He installed it eight years before he died. Which means it’s been sitting there for nearly twenty years.” I looked at the page. “Gerald has been in that building every day. Walking past it.”
Zael was silent for a moment.
“He had no idea,” he said.
“No. My father chose that location specifically because Gerald would never search the building he believed he already owned completely.” I set the letter down.
“Gerald thinks the evidence he took from the bank this morning is enough to work with. He doesn’t know there’s a second set. He doesn’t know it’s been inside his own walls the entire time.”
“Which gives us an advantage he hasn’t calculated for,” Zael said.
“Yes. But only if we get to it before he reads the full contents of what he took from the bank and realizes David split everything deliberately.” I looked at him directly. “How much time do we have before he works that out?”
Zael thought for a moment. “Gerald is meticulous. He won’t rush through what he took. He’ll read carefully, organize, assess what he has against what he still needs.” He looked at me. “Six hours. Maybe eight.”
“Then we need to be inside that building before tonight.”
“Seraphine.” His voice was level. “Callum Corporation is Gerald’s territory. His staff. His security. His cameras… we know he uses them.”
“I know.” I folded the letter carefully. “But it’s also my father’s building. My father’s name on the deed. My father’s evidence behind that wall.” I met his eyes.
“And Claire filed the estate injunction this morning. Which means as of today I have a legal claim to access any property registered under Callum Private Holdings.”
Zael looked at me for a long moment.
“You want to walk in through the front door,” he said.
“Yes, I want to walk in through the front door,” I confirmed.
“Gerald’s people will call him the moment you step inside.”
“I know.”
“Which means we have however long it takes him to get from wherever he is to that building.” He leaned forward slightly. “That’s not much time, Seraphine.”
“It’s enough.” I put the letter in my bag. “I know exactly where I’m going and exactly what I’m looking for. I don’t need much time.” I looked at him. “But I need you with me.”
He held my gaze.
Then he picked up his phone.
“Damien,” he said when it connected. “We need a car at the café on Brenton Street. And I need you to pull the floor plan for Callum Corporation’s third floor.” A beat. “Because we’re going in.”