Snatched a Billionaire to Be My Husband – Episode 34
Evelyn had not been dragged from the rehabilitation residence. That detail prevented police from treating her disappearance as an abduction, but it did nothing to lessen Cora’s fear. The footage showed her mother holding Miriam’s arm as they crossed the service lot, moving with urgency and apparent trust.
Cora called until Evelyn’s phone went directly to voicemail. Byron’s security team traced the device to a drainage channel two blocks from the residence. It had been wrapped in foil and discarded carefully, suggesting Miriam knew precisely how to delay pursuit.
Roland answered Byron’s call himself. He claimed Miriam had left the Vale estate before dawn and had not responded to him since. When Cora demanded Miriam’s personnel file, he resisted on privacy grounds. She reminded him that his private office had tracked Evelyn for decades. Privacy, apparently, mattered only when it protected a Vale.
The file arrived six minutes later. Miriam had served Roland for thirty-one years, first as an aide and later as director of family affairs. Her address belonged to the Vale estate, her salary passed through three trusts, and every emergency contact was blank. She had built a professional life that left almost no independent trace.
Carter found the vehicle on a freeway camera heading north. It was registered to a hospice charity funded by Vale International. Byron wanted to alert highway patrol, but Cora asked for one minute to examine the route. Miriam could have chosen a dozen roads out of the city; the one she selected led toward the coast where Evelyn and Roland had been photographed.
“She’s taking her back to the beginning,” Cora said. The seaside hotel had closed years earlier after a landslide damaged the property. County records showed that the abandoned building now belonged to a Vale conservation trust administered by Miriam.
Byron notified local police and arranged a helicopter, but coastal fog grounded it before takeoff. They drove instead, with Carter following in a second car. Cora spent the journey reading the recovered investigator report. Charles had met Miriam twice, and both meetings occurred just before the Lane family moved.
One handwritten note complicated everything: M says Roland did not order the search. She believes Marcus is preparing custody papers. Charles had trusted Miriam’s warning enough to uproot his life, yet he had later underlined her name beside a single question—Who told Marcus?
The ruined hotel emerged through fog near sunset. Police found Miriam’s car outside but no sign of either woman. The building’s power had been restored recently, and fresh footprints crossed dust toward the ballroom overlooking the ocean.
Cora entered with Byron and an officer. The ballroom smelled of salt, damp wood, and old plaster. Evelyn sat near the broken windows wrapped in a blanket, unharmed. Miriam stood several feet away with both hands visible, as though she had expected police to arrive.
“I came willingly,” Evelyn said before Cora could reach her. She had received a message that Miriam possessed proof about the night she fled. Afraid Roland would seize it first, Evelyn left without telling anyone. Shame entered her voice when she admitted discarding the phone because Miriam said the Vales monitored every call.
Miriam opened a metal case on the floor. Inside were cassette recordings, hospital forms, and a notarized statement from Marcus made shortly before his death. He confessed to intercepting Evelyn’s letters and ordering surveillance, but he also claimed he acted at Miriam’s suggestion.
The accusation had kept Miriam silent for years. She said Marcus discovered Evelyn’s pregnancy only because Miriam sought help arranging her escape. He promised protection, then used the information to eliminate a child who might divide the family fortune. Miriam had saved Evelyn but also exposed her.
“Why bring me here now?” Evelyn asked. Miriam explained that Roland’s illness had destabilized the trust. Someone reopened the surveillance file and falsified Adrian’s authorization. She feared the same person would use Cora’s identity to control the succession vote, then blame her as Marcus once had.
Cora asked who had access. Miriam named Celeste Vale, Adrian’s younger sister and the chief financial officer of the family office. Celeste had spent months opposing Roland’s plans to sell the hospital division and recently requested every historical file involving unrecognized heirs.
Before Miriam could explain more, the ballroom lights went out. A shot shattered what remained of a window, driving everyone to the floor. Byron covered Cora by instinct, but she pulled Evelyn behind a stone column while the officer radioed for backup.
A second shot struck the metal case. Fire climbed across the old tapes where an incendiary round had pierced them. Miriam lunged toward the evidence, and Carter dragged her back as flames spread through the papers. Whoever fired did not need to kill them if the records vanished first.
Through the broken wall, Cora saw a figure retreat along the cliff path. The shooter left behind one undamaged object lodged beneath the case: a silver Vale insignia engraved with Celeste’s initials. It looked like proof, but after everything Cora had survived, she recognized evidence that was almost too convenient to be true.