Chapter 4 - A Dead Woman's Letter.
Darkness swallowed the Solmere lobby.
Someone screamed near the bar.
A glass shattered.
Charlotte immediately dropped to one knee and pulled the tablet against her body.
Her mother's recording stopped mid-sentence.
Emergency lights flickered red along the floor.
Charlotte saw movement approaching from her left.
Fast.
Too fast to be a frightened guest.
A hand grabbed for the tablet.
Charlotte twisted away.
The stranger caught her wrist instead.
Pain shot up her arm.
"Let go."
She drove her shoulder forward.
The grip loosened.
Someone else crashed into the attacker.
Daniel's voice cut through the darkness.
"Back away from her!"
A dull impact followed.
Then footsteps retreated.
The main lights returned seconds later.
Guests blinked beneath the chandeliers.
Daniel stood beside Charlotte, breathing hard.
A red mark crossed his cheek.
The attacker was gone.
So was Victor Hale.
Vanessa stood near the reception desk, staring at the elevators.
Charlotte rose slowly.
"Where is he?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"I don't know."
For the first time, she sounded truthful.
Charlotte looked at the police officers.
"Seal the exits."
The lead officer frowned.
"You don't give us orders."
Daniel wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
"She may be the controlling owner of this property."
Charlotte turned toward him.
"May be?"
Daniel looked at the tablet.
"If those documents authenticate, yes."
Vanessa scoffed.
"This is insane."
Charlotte restarted the recording.
Her mother's voice filled the lobby again.
"If Charlotte is hearing this, Victor Hale has already made his move."
Eleanor sounded calm, but there was fear underneath the words.
"He has been transferring Solmere assets through shell companies controlled by three board members."
Vanessa went pale.
"Turn that off."
Charlotte didn't.
"I discovered the transfers six weeks ago."
"Victor knows I discovered them."
"If anything happens to me, Charlotte must not trust the official company records."
The recording paused.
A faint hiss remained beneath Eleanor's voice.
Charlotte recognized the sound of the antique clock in her mother's penthouse.
That meant Eleanor had made the recording inside the hotel, not in the law office where Victor claimed she had spent her final evening.
One more detail in the official story had just fallen apart.
Then Eleanor said something Charlotte had never heard before.
"The original ownership ledger is hidden inside the hotel."
Charlotte stared at the tablet.
That line had not been present the last time she played the file.
Daniel looked just as shocked.
"Where?"
Eleanor's voice continued.
"Penthouse 1901."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"That suite has been sealed since your mother's death."
Charlotte turned toward the private elevators.
Vanessa moved in front of her.
"You're not going up there."
Charlotte met her eyes.
"Move."
"You think one recording makes you untouchable?"
"No."
Charlotte stepped closer.
"But I think you're scared of what I'll find."
Vanessa's eyes flicked toward the elevator.
That was answer enough.
Daniel swiped his keycard against the private lift.
The panel flashed red.
ACCESS REVOKED.
He tried again.
Same result.
Charlotte placed her thumb against the tablet.
A hidden control menu opened.
One command appeared at the top.
OWNER OVERRIDE.
She pressed it.
The private elevator doors opened immediately.
May you like
Inside, someone had written three words across the mirrored wall in red lipstick.
CHARLOTTE, DON'T GO.
