I sat in the leather chair, staring at the empty mahogany desk.

My hands were shaking so hard I had to sit on them to make them stop.

“He is bluffing, Elena,” Marisol said, her hand resting on my shoulder.

“What if he isn’t?” I asked. “What if they tell everyone I’m crazy?”

“We have the financial records,” Marisol said. “Numbers don’t lie, even if Stephanie does.”

She stood up and pulled her keys from her purse.

“Now, let’s go get that box before Vance tries to get a court order to freeze it,” Marisol said.

We left the small office and walked to the customer service desk.

A woman with a gold name tag that read ‘Brenda’ looked up at us.

“We need to access safe deposit box four-twelve,” Marisol said, presenting the key.

Brenda checked her computer, then looked at my identification.

“Of course,” Brenda said. “Please sign here.”

My hand shook as I signed the yellow card.

Brenda led us through a heavy barred gate into the vault room.

The air in the vault was even colder, smelling of old paper and cold steel.