Chapter 8 - The Woman in Room 1708.
Ethan did not touch Claire.
That mattered.
He had positioned himself as the reasonable man all evening, and Claire could see the calculation returning behind his eyes.
A pregnant woman in a torn dress was a terrible person to threaten in front of witnesses.
Even Ethan understood optics.
He stepped back.
"You're being dramatic."
Claire almost smiled.
"Interesting choice of word."
Madison moved closer to her sister.
It was the first time Claire could remember Madison choosing Claire's side of a room.
Vivian noticed.
Her face tightened.
Thomas tried the door.
The electronic lock did not respond.
"Open it."
Ethan picked up his phone.
"I didn't lock it."
"Your network still works."
"I have a secure cellular connection."
"Then call hotel security."
Ethan said nothing.
Thomas's voice sharpened.
"Call them."
A loud knock struck the service door.
Everyone turned.
Another knock.
Then Reed's voice came from the corridor.
"Police."
Ethan's expression changed.
Claire looked at him.
For the first time, surprise appeared genuine.
Thomas opened the service door manually from inside.
Reed entered with two officers.
His eyes swept the room.
"Why is the main door locked?"
Ethan answered.
"System malfunction."
Reed looked at him.
"Your evening has a lot of those."
Claire almost laughed.
Reed took the contract from Thomas.
He read the first page.
Then the second.
His expression remained neutral.
"Civil documents."
Thomas nodded.
"With interesting timing."
"Very."
Reed looked at Ethan.
"I need your security staff downstairs."
"They're working."
"Not anymore."
Ethan folded his arms.
"Am I under arrest?"
"No."
"Then I'll manage my employees."
Reed's voice remained polite.
"No, you won't."
The two men stared at each other.
Madison removed her wedding ring.
The movement was so quiet no one noticed until it struck the wooden table.
Ethan looked down.
His face hardened.
"What are you doing?"
Madison stared at him.
"I don't know yet."
Claire watched her sister walk out through the service door.
Vivian followed.
"Madison."
The bride did not stop.
Claire started after her.
Reed touched her arm lightly.
"One minute."
Claire turned.
He held up his phone.
"We found the temporary cleaner."
"Carla?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
He looked at her.
"Your room."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"Again?"
"She entered ten minutes ago."
Thomas frowned.
"How?"
"Housekeeping master."
Claire started toward the stairs.
Reed stopped her again.
"My officers are already there."
"I'm going."
He studied her.
Then nodded.
"Fine."
They took the service stairs down one level to a working elevator.
Madison was waiting there.
Vivian was nowhere in sight.
Madison's eyes were red.
"Where are you going?"
Claire hesitated.
"My room."
"I'm coming."
Reed started to object.
Madison looked at him.
"Someone used my wedding to frame my sister and push me into signing away a trust."
Her voice shook.
"I'm done waiting in rooms while other people decide what I should know."
Claire heard herself in the sentence.
Reed apparently did too.
"Stay behind me."
Suite 1708 was open.
Two officers stood inside.
A woman sat on the sofa with both hands visible.
She looked around forty-five, with dark hair pulled into a low ponytail and a plain housekeeping uniform beneath a gray coat.
Claire did not recognize her.
Reed entered.
"Carla Mendez?"
The woman shook her head.
"That's the name on the agency badge."
"What's your name?"
"Diane Mercer."
Grant Mercer's last name.
Claire noticed immediately.
"So you're related to the lawyer upstairs."
The woman looked at her.
"My brother."
Madison whispered, "What?"
Reed remained standing.
"Why did you use a false identity?"
"Because Arthur Lane asked me to."
Claire stepped closer.
"You know Arthur?"
Diane nodded.
"I worked for him."
"Where is he?"
The woman looked down.
"I don't know."
Claire's hope collapsed.
Diane continued.
"He contacted me three weeks ago."
Reed asked, "And told you to pose as temporary housekeeping?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To document who was accessing certain hotel rooms tonight."
Thomas entered behind them.
Diane looked at him.
Her expression hardened.
"You."
Thomas stopped.
"Do I know you?"
"No."
"But I know you."
Claire glanced between them.
Diane looked at her.
"Your mother hired Arthur Lane to create Blackwater."
Claire's pulse quickened.
"I know that now."
"She also gave him instructions to audit it every five years until you turned thirty-five."
Thomas stared.
"I was never told that."
Diane's eyes flashed.
"That was the point."
The room went silent.
Claire felt another piece slide into place.
Her mother had not trusted Thomas to manage everything.
The realization hurt, but it did not surprise her anymore.
Diane removed a small digital recorder from her coat pocket.
Reed immediately held out his hand.
"Put that on the table."
She did.
"I recorded Vivian entering the bridal floor through the service stairs."
Claire looked at Reed.
"So the recovered camera frame was right."
"Yes."
Diane nodded.
"She took Claire's clutch."
Madison covered her mouth.
Diane continued.
"She swapped it for a duplicate."
Claire felt anger rise slowly.
"Did you see her put the sapphire in it?"
"No."
"Who did?"
Diane looked at Madison.
"Your husband's security chief."
Madison went white.
"Daniel?"
"Yes."
Diane leaned back.
"He met Vivian in the service corridor at 6:55."
Reed asked, "You recorded that?"
"Audio."
"Video?"
"No."
"What did they say?"
Diane looked toward Claire.
"Vivian asked whether the blue stone was secure."
Madison closed her eyes.
Diane continued.
"Daniel said Ethan wanted the bag found only after Claire refused the search."
Claire stared at the floor.
That meant the public humiliation had not just been anticipated.
It had been required.
The planted evidence was supposed to appear only after Claire resisted, making her look more guilty.
Madison whispered, "Ethan planned it."
Diane looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
Madison laughed weakly.
"Everyone keeps saying that tonight."
Claire turned toward Diane.
"Why did you put Mom's bracelet in my room?"
Diane's head snapped up.
"I didn't."
Reed watched her.
"Someone entered using a housekeeping master credential assigned to your alias."
Diane stared.
"My badge disappeared for twenty minutes."
"When?"
"Before the ceremony."
"Who had access?"
Diane looked toward the open doorway.
"Grant."
Claire's skin prickled.
"Your brother?"
"Yes."
Diane's face tightened.
"He found me in the staff break room and told me Arthur was waiting downstairs."
"Was he?"
"No."
"Then Grant took your badge."
"For twenty minutes."
Reed wrote.
Diane looked genuinely sick.
"I thought he was helping Arthur."
Madison whispered, "He works for Ethan."
"Yes."
Diane's eyes filled with anger.
"I know that now."
Claire sat slowly in the chair near the desk.
The web had become almost too large to hold in her mind.
Vivian planted the fake clutch.
Daniel Cross planted the sapphire.
Grant Mercer possibly planted Elizabeth's bracelet.
Ethan coordinated security and pushed Madison to sign the trust proxy.
Different people.
Different actions.
One design.
Thomas looked at Diane.
"Where is Arthur Lane?"
She looked at him.
"The last place I saw him was your executive conference room."
Thomas stiffened.
"You were there?"
"In the service corridor."
"What happened?"
"Arthur entered at 6:30."
"He met me at 6:35."
Diane nodded.
"Then at 6:58, Grant went in."
Claire frowned.
Thomas had said Arthur disappeared while Thomas took a call.
Diane continued.
"Grant came out alone."
Reed's voice sharpened.
"How long was he inside?"
"Five minutes."
"Arthur?"
"I didn't see him leave."
The room became silent.
Claire looked at Thomas.
"Is there another exit?"
His face changed.
"There's a private connecting door to the old boardroom."
Reed immediately turned to an officer.
"Get someone there."
The officer left.
Madison sat on the edge of the bed.
Her wedding dress spread around her like spilled lace.
"What was Mom supposed to get?"
Claire looked at her.
"What?"
"If Ethan got Blackwater."
Madison's voice trembled.
"What did Mom get?"
No one answered.
Then Diane spoke.
"A guaranteed board seat."
Madison looked at her.
"And?"
"Thirty million dollars."
Thomas went still.
Claire stared at him.
Diane continued.
"Paid through Cole Strategic after the proxy transfer."
Madison looked toward the door Vivian had left through earlier.
Her face emptied.
"My mother sold me."
Claire did not answer.
There was nothing safe to say.
Reed's phone rang.
He picked up.
"Reed."
He listened.
Then his face changed.
"Don't touch anything."
Claire stood.
"What?"
Reed ended the call.
"They found Arthur Lane."
Thomas exhaled.
"Where?"
"In the old boardroom."
"Is he all right?"
Reed looked at Claire.
"He's conscious."
Relief hit her.
Then Reed added the rest.
"But he says someone took the original Blackwater trust from him."
Claire's relief vanished.
"Who?"
Reed answered.
"He says it was the groom."
Madison closed her eyes.
Claire looked at the clock.
9:47 p.m.
Two hours and thirteen minutes until midnight.
The original trust was missing.
May you like
Ethan had a private network.
And somewhere inside the hotel, Claire's mother's most important document was now in the hands of the man who had just married her sister.
