Chapter 3 - The First Name
Charlotte followed the narrow service staircase downward.
Her heart pounded with every step.
Above her, she heard shouting.
Then something crashed.
She wanted to return for Arthur.
But he had given her one instruction.
Protect the drive.
Charlotte exited through a service corridor on the forty-eighth floor.
She found an empty housekeeping room.
She locked the door.
Then she removed the flash drive.
There was an old laptop on a storage shelf.
Charlotte powered it on.
No internet connection.
Perfect.
She inserted the drive.
A password box appeared.
Charlotte tried her mother’s birthday.
Rejected.
Her grandfather’s name.
Rejected.
Then she remembered something Elizabeth always said.
“An empire is worthless without the truth.”
Charlotte typed TRUTH.
The drive opened.
There were hundreds of files.
Financial records.
Board communications.
Medical reports.
Voice recordings.
Photographs.
Charlotte clicked the newest video.
Her mother appeared on the screen.
Elizabeth looked exhausted.
She was sitting in the same office Charlotte had just escaped.
“Charlotte.”
Her voice was weak.
“If you are watching this, then I failed to stop them.”
Charlotte covered her mouth.
Elizabeth continued.
“Malcolm Voss has been diverting assets from Solmere Holdings for at least seven years.”
Charlotte stared at the screen.
“He could not do it alone.”
Elizabeth paused.
“The person helping him is someone you know.”
Charlotte leaned closer.
“Someone I trusted.”
The video suddenly froze.
Charlotte cursed under her breath.
She opened another folder.
It contained payment records.
Millions of dollars had been moved into shell companies.
One beneficiary appeared repeatedly.
CROSS HERITAGE GROUP.
Charlotte’s blood ran cold.
Cross.
Vivian Cross.
The woman who had dragged her across the lobby.
Charlotte opened the corporate documents.
Vivian was listed as a minority director.
The majority shareholder was hidden behind a trust.
Charlotte searched the related records.
A name appeared.
Daniel Vale.
Charlotte stopped breathing.
Her uncle.
Her mother’s younger brother.
A man Charlotte had not seen in almost nine years.
Daniel had disappeared after a bitter family dispute.
Everyone believed he had moved overseas.
Charlotte suddenly heard voices outside the housekeeping room.
“Check every floor.”
Security.
Charlotte removed the flash drive.
The handle turned.
She climbed through a linen hatch connected to the adjacent suite.
Seconds later, guards entered the room.
Charlotte remained perfectly still behind a wall of hanging robes.
“Voss wants her alive.”
One guard whispered.
“For now.”
The other guard laughed.
“What about Bell?”
“Taken care of.”
Charlotte’s stomach tightened.
She waited until they left.
Then she slipped into the hotel suite.
A television was showing live footage from downstairs.
Breaking news graphics covered the screen.
Charlotte stared.
A reporter stood outside Solmere Hotel.
“Sources inside the company claim a mentally unstable woman identifying herself as Charlotte Vale assaulted prominent philanthropist Vivian Cross.”
Charlotte couldn’t believe it.
They had already rewritten the story.
Then a photograph appeared.
Charlotte’s photograph.
The headline beneath it read:
MISSING HEIRESS SUFFERS PUBLIC BREAKDOWN.
Charlotte’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She answered cautiously.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Charlotte froze.
“What did you say?”
The caller laughed softly.
“Ask your uncle what happened the night your mother died.”
The call ended.
Charlotte stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
It contained a photograph.
Arthur Bell was tied to a chair.
Bleeding.
Still alive.
May you like
Below the photograph were six words.
BRING THE DRIVE OR HE DIES.
