Chapter 5 - NEIL
Neil Foster arrived at the hospital before I could call him.
That was mistake number one.
Nobody had told him Sarah was asking about him.
He appeared carrying flowers and an expression I had always considered sincere.
“Sarah, Jesus. I just heard.”
Sarah looked at me.
Then at him.
“Who told you?”
“Your father’s assistant.”
“Sit down.”
Neil hesitated.
The flowers remained in his hands.
Sarah did not smile.
“Did my mother give you my keycard last night?”
His face changed.
Barely.
But enough.
“What?”
“We have video.”
Silence.
Neil placed the flowers on the counter.
“She asked me to get something from your office.”
“What?”
“An audit binder.”
“Why?”
“She said you had taken confidential family files without authorization.”
“I’m the CFO.”
“I know.”
“Did you enter my office?”
“Yes.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
Neil rushed ahead.
“I didn't take anything.”
“What did you do?”
“I opened your desk.”
My hand tightened.
Sarah’s brass key was still in my pocket.
“How?”
“Your mother gave me a spare.”
“There is no spare.”
Neil looked genuinely confused.
“There is now.”
Someone had copied the key.
Sarah’s desk drawer had contained original invoices, bank summaries, handwritten notes, and a flash drive.
When Neil opened it, it was already empty.
“Empty?”
“Yes.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I’m telling you what happened.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You helped me build that file.”
“I know.”
“You told me Larkspur looked wrong.”
“It does.”
“Then why help my mother get into my desk?”
His eyes dropped.
“Because she said you were trying to destroy the company before your maternity leave.”
“That doesn't even make sense.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew it then.”
Neil said nothing.
The betrayal changed Sarah physically.
Her shoulders drew inward.
He had been one of the few people she trusted inside the company.
Detective Torres arrived before Neil left.
She asked him to repeat everything.
He did.
Then she asked whether Evelyn had offered anything in exchange.
“No.”
“Threatened you?”
Another hesitation.
“No.”
Torres wrote something down.
Neil stood.
At the door, Sarah stopped him.
“Who owns the other thirty percent of Larkspur?”
His back went rigid.
“I don't know.”
“You helped me search.”
“We never found it.”
“You're lying.”
He turned.
For the first time, his composure cracked.
“Sarah, please leave that alone.”
She stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because what happened last night can get worse.”
Then he walked out.
That was enough for Torres to become interested.
It was enough for me to become furious.
But Sarah remained focused.
“Neil knows the second owner.”
That afternoon Owen exported the service-corridor footage.
Evelyn did not merely give Neil a keycard.
She gave him a small silver key.
The duplicate to Sarah’s desk.
Meaning someone had copied the key before the party.
This was not panic after Sarah confronted Evelyn.
May you like
Someone had planned to access her evidence in advance.
📖 Neil’s betrayal showed Sarah’s office had been targeted before the shove, and his warning made the hidden thirty-percent owner suddenly more dangerous than Evelyn herself. 👇
