Chapter 13 - Six Minutes Before the Cache Was Gone
Brandon lunged for Nora's phone.
She pulled it against her chest and turned away.
He grabbed her wrist.
"Give it to me."
"No."
I stepped between them before my body could warn me not to.
"Let her go."
He looked at me as if he could not believe I was still standing.
"You should be in bed."
"You should be explaining why there's a video of you pushing me."
His eyes flicked toward the service screen.
The countdown read 05:58.
"That's not what happened."
"We're watching it happen."
He released Nora and reached for the recorder.
I blocked him.
He could have moved me easily.
He knew it.
But the pantry was narrow, Nora was recording, and every violent movement now had a witness and a camera inches away.
That changed him.
For the first time, he hesitated.
"Emma," he said quietly, "you don't understand what happens if those files leave this house."
"Then explain it."
"We lose everything."
"Whose everything?"
"Ours."
"You threw me off a balcony for ours?"
His face twisted.
"I didn't mean for you to go over."
"Both hands, Brandon."
"You pulled away."
"Both hands."
Nora kept recording.
The countdown reached 05:12.
Brandon saw the phone again.
"Turn that off."
"No," Nora said.
He moved toward her.
The pantry door handle rattled.
Margaret's voice came through.
"Brandon?"
He unlocked it.
She entered, saw the screen, and stopped.
The balcony clip was frozen on the frame showing his hands extended against my shoulders.
Margaret closed the door behind her.
"Delete it."
"Someone already scheduled a purge," I said.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
"Remote administrator."
Brandon looked at her.
"Caleb."
"Then let it run."
I pointed at Nora's phone.
"Too late."
Margaret stepped toward Nora.
Nora lifted the phone higher.
"Touch me and this becomes another recording."
Margaret stopped.
A tiny shift in power.
Not enough.
But real.
The countdown reached 04:31.
I opened the pantry audio file.
A waveform appeared.
Brandon's recorded voice filled the cramped room.
"She brought the evidence. If she refuses the transfer, we do it today."
Then static.
Then another male voice, low and measured.
"Make sure she can't walk out with it."
Brandon went pale.
Margaret did not.
She looked furious.
"Stop the playback."
I did not.
The audio continued.
Brandon said, "What if she gets hurt?"
The other voice answered, "The incapacity clause is cleaner than a death certificate anyway."
Nora covered her mouth.
I stared at Brandon.
He looked sick.
"You knew," I whispered.
"I didn't know he meant—"
Margaret cut him off.
"Enough."
The recording continued for three more seconds.
Then came Margaret's voice from farther away in the pantry corridor.
"If she survives, the doctor handles the rest."
Silence swallowed the room.
Brandon turned slowly toward his mother.
"You told me the doctor was just for paperwork."
Margaret's control cracked.
"And you were supposed to get the signature before any of this became necessary."
The countdown flashed 02:03.
Then the front-door chime sounded through the villa.
Once.
Twice.
Nora looked at the wall clock.
4:58 p.m.
May you like
Caleb Sloan was two minutes early.
📖 Read what happens when Caleb Sloan arrives while his own voice may be trapped in the pantry recording—and why Margaret suddenly wants the door unanswered in CHAPTER 14. 👇
