Chapter 9 - The Missing ArchiveIT restored part of the deleted folder from a backup.
Not everything.
Enough.
Cecilia had kept notes.
Vendor names.
Dates.
Expense anomalies.
One company appeared repeatedly.
Silver Birch Management.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“I remember this.”
“What was it?”
“A procurement consultant Trevor recommended.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Grace asked, “Was it legitimate?”
“For about six months.”
Then payments stopped.
Cecilia’s notes explained why.
Silver Birch shared a mailing address with a tax preparation office previously used by Trevor’s father.
Elise looked up.
“Related party.”
“Possibly,” Adrian said.
Cecilia had requested bank ownership documentation.
Trevor never provided it.
The final recovered note read:
T.H. becoming defensive. Freeze new approvals. Need independent review.
Elise closed her eyes.
Her mother had been days away from exposing something.
Then she became too sick to finish.
Trevor survived.
And Elise promoted him.
Grace sat beside her.
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“You were twenty-one and burying your mother.”
“I still should have asked.”
That evening, Naomi called.
Trevor had contacted her again.
“What did he say?” Elise asked.
“He wants to meet.”
“Don’t.”
“He says he has proof you knew about N.W. Creative.”
“He’s lying.”
“I know.”
Elise was surprised by the certainty.
Naomi continued.
“He says if I cooperate with you, he’ll give prosecutors everything with my signature on it.”
“He’s threatening you.”
“Yes.”
“Save every message.”
“I am.”
Naomi hesitated.
“Elise?”
“What?”
“Do you hate me?”
Elise stared out the mansion window.
Sunny lay beside her.
“I don’t know what I feel.”
Naomi whispered, “That’s fair.”
The call ended.
Minutes later, Sunny lifted his head.
Headlights entered the driveway.
Elise stiffened.
A vehicle stopped near the gates.
Security called.
“Mrs. Hale, your husband is here.”
“Do not let him in.”
“He says he needs personal belongings.”
“He can arrange collection through counsel.”
There was a pause.
“He says he has a legal right to enter.”
Grace had anticipated this.
Trevor was still Elise’s husband, but the mansion was Elise’s separate property inherited before marriage.
His personal possessions could be retrieved under agreed conditions.
Not at night.
Not alone.
Elise told security to deny entry.
For fifteen minutes, Trevor remained outside the gate.
Then he left.
At midnight, Elise couldn’t sleep.
She walked through the bedroom.
The wardrobe doors were still open.
She had not been able to close them.
Every time she looked at them, she saw Naomi’s face.
Sunny entered behind her.
He sniffed the floor.
Then moved toward the base of the wardrobe.
Elise almost laughed bitterly.
“There’s nobody in there.”
Sunny kept sniffing.
Not the doors.
The wooden baseboard beneath the wardrobe.
He pawed once.
Elise frowned.
“Sunny.”
He sniffed again.
Elise crouched.
One section of trim looked slightly misaligned.
She pressed it.
The panel shifted.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Elise stopped breathing.
She reached inside.
Her fingers touched plastic.
She pulled out a small external hard drive.
Black.
Unlabeled.
Not hers.
Elise stared at it.
May you like
Trevor had returned to the mansion because he needed something.
And he had hidden it less than three feet from where Naomi had been standing.
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