Chapter 4 - The Hostage Trade
Charlotte had exactly thirty minutes.
The message included a location beneath the hotel.
Sublevel three.
An abandoned loading bay.
Charlotte knew it was a trap.
She also knew Arthur Bell might be the only person alive who could explain what happened to her mother.
Charlotte duplicated several files from the drive onto the laptop.
Then she uploaded one encrypted package using the hotel’s hidden executive network.
She scheduled it to be delivered automatically to three journalists in twelve hours.
If she didn’t cancel the transmission, the files would go public.
It wasn’t enough protection.
But it was something.
Charlotte returned to the service staircase.
The deeper she descended, the quieter the hotel became.
When she reached sublevel three, the air smelled of dust and gasoline.
Arthur was sitting beneath a hanging light.
His hands were tied.
Blood ran down his forehead.
Vivian Cross stood beside him.
She had changed out of her white gown.
Now she wore black trousers and a dark coat.
The glamorous socialite was gone.
What remained was colder.
More dangerous.
“You.”
Charlotte stepped into the light.
Vivian smiled.
“Surprised?”
Charlotte held up the flash drive.
“Let him go.”
Vivian laughed.
“You still think you’re negotiating.”
Two armed men appeared behind Charlotte.
One removed her phone.
The other searched her.
He found the drive.
Vivian took it.
Arthur looked at Charlotte.
“I told you not to come.”
“I’m tired of watching people get hurt because of my family.”
Vivian examined the drive.
“Your family?”
She smiled bitterly.
“Your family has been hurting people for generations.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed.
“What are you talking about?”
Vivian walked closer.
“Elizabeth Vale didn’t tell you everything.”
“She told me enough.”
“No.”
Vivian shook her head.
“She told you the version that kept you loyal.”
Charlotte glanced at Arthur.
Vivian noticed.
“Oh, Arthur knows.”
Arthur looked away.
Charlotte’s heart sank.
“Knows what?”
Vivian pulled a small envelope from her coat.
She tossed it onto the floor.
A photograph slid out.
Charlotte picked it up.
Her mother was standing beside a younger woman.
The young woman looked almost exactly like Vivian.
“My mother.”
Vivian’s voice hardened.
“Rebecca Cross.”
Charlotte looked at the date printed on the photograph.
Vivian continued.
“She helped build Solmere International.”
“Then your grandfather erased her from the company.”
Charlotte shook her head.
“That doesn’t explain murder.”
Vivian’s expression changed.
“No.”
“But it explains why some of us stopped believing your family deserved the empire.”
Arthur suddenly spoke.
“Vivian, Daniel is using you.”
Vivian struck him across the face.
“Shut up.”
Charlotte caught the reaction.
Fear.
Daniel Vale was controlling this operation.
But Vivian was not fully comfortable with him.
That meant there was a weakness.
Charlotte slowly stood.
“You hate my family.”
Vivian looked at her.
“But Daniel is a Vale too.”
Vivian’s face tightened.
Charlotte moved closer.
“So why are you helping him?”
Before Vivian could answer, a gunshot echoed through the loading bay.
One of the armed men collapsed.
Then the lights went out.
Someone grabbed Charlotte’s arm.
She fought back.
“Charlotte.”
A man whispered.
“It’s me.”
She recognized the voice.
Ethan Cole.
Her former fiancé.
May you like
A man she had not seen since the week before her mother died.
And the last person Charlotte had ever expected to come back for her.
