The Plan

Elena didn't waste time on platitudes. "Listen to me, Maya. I can't come to you. I'm compromised."

"You said you were safe," Maya whispered.

"I am. But I'm watching the house. And I can't get back in." Elena stared at the screen of the burner phone, her thumb hovering over the banking app. "We have to fix the money. Now."

"How? It's gone."

"It's not gone," Elena said, her mind racing through the labyrinth of shell companies Silas had shown her. "It's just moved. They moved it to a holding account. The one they use for the 'charitable' donations."

"So move it back."

"I can't. Not directly. Constance has flagged my digital signature. If I try to access the main trust again, the system will lock me out completely."

Elena paced the small cabin of the boat, the floorboards creaking under her weight. The sun was gone, leaving the marsh in a heavy, humid twilight.

"I need you to do it," Elena said.

"Me?" Maya’s voice spiked with panic. "I don't know how to hack a bank."

"You don't need to hack anything. You're the beneficiary. You have access to the secondary portal. The one they set up for your allowance."

"But that account is empty."

"It's linked," Elena said. "It's linked to the main trust. It has to be. That's how they move the money without triggering the IRS flags. It's a pass-through."

She took a breath. This was the gamble. The big one.

"Maya, listen carefully. I need you to log into your student portal. Go to the transfer section. Instead of requesting a withdrawal, I need you to request a 'Reimbursement for Educational Expenses'."

"For what? I haven't paid anything."

"It doesn't matter. The system is automated. It approves anything under a quarter million automatically if it's tagged as education. It pulls directly from the holding account to avoid tax penalties."

"But... won't they see it?"

"They'll see it," Elena said. "But by the time they cancel it, the money will already be in the university's escrow account. It's an international wire. Once it hits the SWIFT network, they can't claw it back without a court order."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then they win," Elena said. "And you stay here forever."

Silence on the line. Then, the sound of keyboard keys clicking. Fast.

"Okay," Maya said. "I'm in. Request Reimbursement. Amount?"

"Two hundred thousand," Elena said. "Plus the wire fee."

"Okay. It's asking for a reason."

"Tuition and Board," Elena said.

"Done. It wants a secondary authorization."

Elena froze. "From who?"

"The Trustee."

Of course. Constance had added a failsafe.

"Is it asking for a signature?"

"No," Maya said. "It's asking for a code. A six-digit pin."

The date. The miscarriage date. Julian had used it to frame her.

But maybe... maybe she could use it to save them.

"Try 061423," Elena said.

"What is that?"

"Just type it."

A pause. The longest ten seconds of Elena’s life.

"It says... Authorization Pending."

Elena held her breath.

"Approved," Maya whispered. "It says Approved. Transfer Initiated."

Elena let out a sob she hadn't known she was holding. "It worked. Oh my god, Maya. It worked."

"The money is gone," Maya said, sounding dazed. "It's in France."

"You're going to France," Elena said. "You're getting out."

"What about you?" Maya asked. "You're still here."

"I have one more thing to do," Elena said. "I have to meet someone."

"Who?"

"Your uncle," Elena said. "Liam."

"I don't have an uncle Liam," Maya said. "He died when he was a baby."

Elena closed her eyes. The lies went so deep they were structural.

"He's alive, Maya. And he's going to help us finish this."

She hung up.

She opened the map app on the burner phone. The scrapyard was ten miles north.

She started the engine of the truck. But before she could put it in gear, the phone buzzed again.

A text from Liam.

*Don't come to the yard. They're watching it. Meet me at the old rice mill. Midnight.*

Elena stared at the message. The rice mill. It was ruins. Isolated. Dangerous.

But she had no choice.

She texted back. *I'm coming.*

Then she looked at the banking app one last time.

The notification from the trust account popped up.

**Transfer Complete: $200,000.00 to Sorbonne University.**

But underneath it, another notification appeared. A system alert from the smart home hub she was still technically logged into on the burner.

**Manual Override: Annex Security System.**
**User: Julian Hawthorne.**

Julian was in the Annex. And he had just turned off the cameras.

Why?

Elena’s thumb hovered over the screen. Was he helping her? Or was he hiding something else?

"You're not just trying to escape," Liam’s voice echoed in her memory from the first call. "You're trying to rob them."

No. She wasn't trying to rob them.

She was trying to evict them.