Chapter 4 - The Locked Office
Blake reached the office first.
He slammed the door and turned the lock.
I heard drawers opening and papers tearing.
“Blake!” I shouted. “Open the door.”
Patricia blocked my path.
“You’ve embarrassed him enough.”
“He forged my name.”
“He was protecting his family.”
“No. He was protecting himself.”
The security officers moved Patricia aside. One produced an override key, but Blake had pushed a heavy cabinet against the door.
Inside, something metallic crashed.
Daniel spoke urgently through my phone.
“The original trust box contains transaction records and your father’s sealed instructions. Do not let him remove them.”
The senior officer forced the door open far enough to reach through. Together, both officers shoved the cabinet back.
Blake stood beside the desk holding a stack of papers over the fireplace.
A corner had already caught flame.
Emma screamed.
I rushed forward, grabbed the brass fireplace shovel, and knocked the burning papers onto the stone hearth. One officer smothered them with a fire blanket.
Blake tried to reach the patio doors.
The second officer stopped him.
“What are you hiding?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
Then I saw the open floor safe.
The trust box was gone.
Only a torn envelope remained.
Across the front, in my father’s handwriting, were the words:
For Claire only—open if her husband attempts financial coercion.
My breath stopped.
Dad had known this might happen.
Blake’s confidence returned for half a second.
“You don’t have the box,” he said.
A security officer checked the hallway camera feed.
The footage showed Patricia entering the office that morning and leaving with a black metal case.
Every eye turned toward her.
Patricia clutched her handbag.
“I don’t know what that is.”
The officer enlarged the image.
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The initials C.D. were clearly engraved on the case.
👉 The missing evidence was not with Blake—it had been taken hours earlier by Patricia, before Claire even knew she was under attack.
