Chapter 4: The House Full of Secrets
Chapter 4: The House Full of Secrets
The room fell silent.
No one spoke.
No one even breathed.
Dominic stared at the black raven drawn at the bottom of the letter.
His fingers tightened around the paper.
He had not seen that symbol in twelve years.
Not since the night everything in his life changed.
Daniel broke the silence.
"I watched their compound burn."
"So did I," Marcus added.
"There couldn't have been any survivors."
Dominic slowly folded the letter.
"There were."
"They've just been patient."
He looked down at Victor Sloan's body again.
Victor had served him faithfully for nearly a decade.
He had taken bullets for Dominic.
He had protected Harper whenever Mia worked late.
Now he was dead.
Executed with a single shot between the eyes.
Not out of anger.
Out of precision.
A message.
Dominic's phone vibrated.
He answered without looking at the screen.
"What?"
It was one of the guards at the front gate.
"Boss."
"We searched every vehicle."
"No sign of Nathan or Miss Claire."
Dominic frowned.
"Check the surveillance footage."
There was a long pause.
Then the guard answered nervously.
"That's the problem."
"There isn't any."
Dominic's expression hardened.
"What do you mean?"
"The entire security system was wiped."
"Every camera."
"Every recording."
"Everything from the last seven days is gone."
Marcus looked up sharply.
"Seven days?"
Dominic slowly lowered the phone.
Someone hadn't simply planned an escape.
They had erased history.
He turned toward Daniel.
"Bring me the backup server."
Daniel didn't move.
His face had changed.
"The backup server..."
"...was Victor's responsibility."
Dominic looked at Victor's body.
Then back at Daniel.
"Search his office."
"Now."
Within minutes, Daniel returned carrying a small black fireproof safe.
"It's locked."
Dominic knelt beside it.
He recognized the model immediately.
Victor had once joked that no thief in America could open it.
Dominic entered Victor's birthday.
Nothing.
He entered the date Victor's son had been born.
Nothing.
Marcus looked thoughtful.
"Try today."
Dominic glanced at him.
"Today's date?"
Marcus nodded.
"If Victor knew he was going to die..."
"...he may have left something for you."
Dominic entered the numbers.
The lock clicked open.
Inside was a single flash drive.
And another envelope.
This one read:
Only if I'm already dead.
Dominic unfolded the letter.
Victor's handwriting was unmistakable.
Boss...
If you're reading this, then I failed you.
I discovered someone inside the estate was feeding information to outsiders.
At first I suspected one person.
Then two.
Eventually I realized I couldn't trust anyone.
Not even myself.
Dominic kept reading.
The cameras didn't stop working.
Someone used my access codes to erase them.
Only three people had those codes.
Me.
Nathan.
And...
The letter stopped.
The bottom half of the page had been torn away.
Daniel searched the envelope.
"It's gone."
Marcus examined the torn edge.
"It wasn't ripped by accident."
"Someone removed the last part."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"They wanted me to know."
"But not everything."
At that moment, another voice came from the hallway.
"Mr. Vale?"
Everyone turned.
It was Olivia Grant.
The estate's senior accountant.
She looked terrified.
"I..."
"I think I found something."
Dominic gestured for her to continue.
Olivia held up a stack of financial records.
"I was reviewing payroll this morning."
"There are payments..."
"...to someone who doesn't exist."
Marcus took the files.
The transfers were enormous.
Every month.
Over three years.
Millions of dollars.
The recipient's name appeared on every page.
Eleanor Brooks.
Dominic frowned.
"I've never heard that name."
Olivia nodded.
"Neither had I."
"I searched every employee file."
"There's no Eleanor Brooks."
"No contractor."
"No vendor."
"No consultant."
Daniel flipped through more pages.
"The bank account is real."
"But it was opened using fake identification."
Marcus looked at the total amount.
Nearly twenty-four million dollars.
Gone.
Vanished from Dominic's organization without anyone noticing.
Dominic looked at Olivia.
"Who approved these transfers?"
She hesitated.
Then pointed toward the signature line.
Every authorization carried the same signature.
Nathan Cross.
The room became silent again.
Marcus muttered under his breath.
"He was stealing from us."
Dominic shook his head.
"No."
Marcus looked confused.
"Then what?"
Dominic stared at the financial records.
Nathan had never cared about money.
He already had more than enough.
Twenty-four million dollars wasn't greed.
It was funding.
Funding something much bigger.
Daniel suddenly looked toward the monitor wall.
"Boss..."
One of the security screens had turned back on by itself.
Static filled the display.
Then the image cleared.
A woman appeared.
Claire.
She was sitting in a dark room.
Her makeup was smeared.
Her hands were tied to a chair.
A strip of duct tape covered her mouth.
She looked directly into the camera.
Her eyes were filled with terror.
Behind her...
A man wearing a black raven mask slowly stepped into view.
He raised a pistol.
Then looked straight into the camera.
In a distorted electronic voice, he spoke only one sentence.
"Your fiancée has exactly twenty-four hours to live."
The screen went black.
A timer appeared.
May you like
23:59:58
It immediately began counting down.
