Chapter 15 - The shadow in the mirror
The master suite fell into a silence so suffocating that the only sound was the rhythmic tapping of rain against the heavy windowpanes. The private security team stared directly at Maya, their hands instinctively dropping toward their tactical utility belts.
Garrett did not move. He stood between Maya and his security chief, his towering frame casting a long shadow across the polished hardwood floor. "Check the server timestamps, Marcus," Garrett ordered, his tone icy and controlled. "Maya was at the corporate archives thirty minutes ago. She is the one who alerted me that the estate monitors had gone dark."
"The authorization was submitted remotely at 11:15 PM from the terminal on the thirty-second floor, sir," Marcus stated firmly, holding up the tablet. "Whoever logged in knew the emergency protocol overrides that only foundation executives possess."
"I didn't authorize anything," Maya said, her voice steady despite the adrenaline hammering in her ears. She stood up from the floor, pulling the encrypted hard drive from her jacket. "Someone wanted me in that office tonight. While I was reviewing the procurement ledger, someone duplicated my digital onboarding credentials. Look at the procurement ledger on this drive. The pharmaceutical shipments for Margaret’s sedatives weren't ordered by Madison. They were authorized under 'Project Beacon' by an executive using the internal corporate bypass code."
Garrett took the drive, his eyes narrowing as he recognized the file classification. "Project Beacon was my late father’s private charitable trust. Only three people had administrative clearance: my father, Harlan Vance, and my cousin, Arthur."
Before Garrett could plug the drive into his personal reader, Maya’s phone chimed with a security notification from her private apartment across town. She tapped the screen, and the miniature surveillance app she had installed months ago revealed her modest living room.
The front door of her apartment was shattered off its hinges. The furniture was overturned, the mattress slashed open, and painted across her bathroom mirror in dripping red enamel was a single message:
*Return the locket or the waitress burns first.*
Margaret gasped, clutching Maya’s sleeve from the bed. "They think you have it," Margaret wept softly. "They think Garrett gave the document to you for safekeeping."
Garrett looked at the screen of Maya’s phone, his expression transforming into cold, lethal fury. He stepped toward the doorway, gesturing to Marcus. "Double the perimeter guards here. Bring Maya’s belongings from her apartment immediately, and secure the west wing guest suite for her. She stays on this estate under twenty-four-hour surveillance."
"Garrett, I can’t hide here," Maya protested, taking a step toward him. "If Vance and your cousin are orchestrating this, they are using Madison’s arrest to distract you while they tear apart your family’s assets. That locket contains something that threatens their control of the estate."
May you like
Garrett turned to his mother, his gaze intense. "Mother, tell me the truth. What was inside that sealed birth registry from St. Jude’s?"
Margaret closed her eyes, two fresh tears tracing the lines of her face. "The truth... that your father took to his grave. The reason why Vance and Arthur have been bleeding this company dry for twenty years."
