Chapter 21 - The Account in Her Name
Lydia sent a photograph from Elise’s bedroom.
She was wearing Elise’s clothes and holding Elise’s passport.
Behind her stood two government officials.
Malcolm had begun the identity transfer.
Rebecca explained that the process required three forms of confirmation: biometric data, testimony from a legal relative and access to the beneficiary account.
Victor was Elise’s spouse.
Rebecca was her registered mother.
Neither intended to cooperate.
“That means Malcolm has forged one of us,” Victor said.
Daniel took them to a private bank where Samuel had stored an emergency deposit box.
Inside were account statements from the Registry trust.
Its value had grown to $184 million.
The money came from families who paid Malcolm to alter births, deaths, marriages and inheritances.
Elise’s name appeared as the trust’s sole future controller.
Nora found another document beneath the statements.
It was a handwritten letter from Samuel.
Ellie,
The money is not an inheritance. It is evidence.
Every dollar is connected to a person whose life was purchased, erased or replaced. When control passes to you, do not keep it. Use it to return their names.
Elise folded the letter carefully.
A bank employee entered the room.
“Mrs. Ward, your husband is waiting upstairs.”
Victor stood beside Elise.
The employee looked confused.
“The other Mr. Hale arrived twenty minutes ago.”
Security footage showed a man with Victor’s face entering the bank.
Victor did not have a double.
But Malcolm had access to surgeons, forged biometrics and decades of private records.
Rebecca studied the image.
“That is not a stranger made to resemble Victor.”
“Then who is he?” Elise asked.
Rebecca enlarged the man’s hand.
He wore Victor’s missing college ring.
May you like
“His older brother,” she said.
“The brother Malcolm told everyone had died.”
