Chapter 10 - The USB in Margaret's Hand
We reached the edge of the study window just in time to see Brandon stand beside the fountain.
The USB was between his fingers.
For half a second, no one moved.
Then Margaret took it from him.
Even from across the garden, I saw the satisfaction return to her face.
"We have to leave," Nora whispered.
I looked at the Sloan folder in my hand.
"Not without these."
I shoved the pages beneath my shirt, flat against my waistband.
The signed instruction from my father went into my pocket.
Nora closed the hidden panel and locked the side door behind us.
We did not make it ten feet.
Brandon rounded the hedge.
He stopped when he saw us.
His gaze moved from Nora to the brass key in her hand.
Then to me.
"You were in the study."
I said nothing.
Margaret appeared behind him holding the USB.
"Search her."
Nora stepped between us.
"She needs a hospital."
Brandon grabbed Nora by the arm and shoved her aside.
She struck the hedge and stumbled but stayed upright.
"Don't touch her," I said.
He came toward me.
I backed into the stone wall.
"What did you take?"
"Nothing that belongs to you."
He reached for my waistband.
I slapped his hand away.
The movement sent a bolt through my shoulder so fierce that my knees weakened.
He caught me before I fell—not gently, but because he wanted me standing while he searched me.
His fingers found the folded papers beneath my shirt.
He pulled them out.
Margaret took the folder.
I watched her scan the first page.
Her face went blank.
That was worse than anger.
"Where did you find this?"
"Ask Caleb. His company name is on every page."
Brandon looked at his mother.
"What is it?"
"Copies."
"Of what?"
"Things that should not have been copied."
She tore the top page in half.
Then again.
And again.
I lunged for it.
Brandon blocked me with one arm.
Margaret tore through the payment records until strips of paper fell into the grass.
"Stop!"
"Why?" she asked. "You said possession was power."
"You said that."
A flicker passed through her eyes.
She hated being corrected.
I slipped my hand into my pocket.
The signed instruction from my father was still there.
They had not found it.
Not yet.
Margaret raised the USB.
"Now this."
Brandon reached for it.
"Don't break it. We need to know what she copied."
"We know enough."
"No, we don't."
Their eyes met.
For the first time, I saw genuine disagreement between them.
Brandon wanted information.
Margaret wanted destruction.
She closed her fist around the drive.
"Caleb will know how to wipe it permanently."
"Caleb?" Brandon said.
Something in his tone stopped her.
"What?"
He glanced at me, then lowered his voice.
"He hasn't answered me since the camera alert."
Margaret's expression changed.
"Call him again."
"I did. Four times."
Nora looked toward me.
Caleb was due at five.
He had accessed—or appeared to access—the camera archive at 3:17.
And now he was ignoring both Brandon and Margaret.
Margaret stared at the USB in her hand as if it had suddenly become dangerous to hold.
Then my father's signed instruction slipped halfway out of my pocket.
Her eyes dropped to it.
May you like
"What's that?"
📖 See what Margaret does when she discovers Emma still has her father's signed safeguard—and why losing the USB becomes Emma's biggest setback in CHAPTER 11. 👇
