Chapter 5 - The Man Behind the Power Failure
The chandelier died.
Guests screamed.
Something heavy struck the marble floor.
Marcus pulled me behind a stone column.
“Stay down.”
A gunshot cracked near the staircase.
Glass exploded above us.
Andrew shouted Brenda’s name.
Emergency lights flickered but failed.
Someone had disabled the system from inside the estate.
Footsteps moved quickly through the darkness.
A figure in black crossed the entrance hall.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Stop!”
The figure ran toward the service corridor.
Two officers followed.
My phone vibrated.
LOOK INSIDE THE JEWELRY BOX.
I reached across the floor.
The box lay near Margaret’s feet.
Beneath the removed velvet lining was a small silver key.
The backup generator finally activated.
Dim red lights filled the hall.
Margaret was gone.
Two guards lay unconscious near the corridor.
Brenda stood beside Andrew.
She looked terrified.
Samuel examined the key.
“Private deposit vault.”
“Where?”
“Escalante Tower.”
Andrew approached me.
“This happened because of you.”
I looked at him.
“No. It happened because all of you believed I would remain weak.”
Marcus returned.
“The intruder escaped through the east service tunnel.”
“Margaret?”
“No. Larger build.”
“Who else knew the tunnel?”
Andrew looked away.
I noticed.
“You knew.”
“My family used the tunnel during security emergencies.”
“Who designed it?”
“Victor Lang.”
The board member who objected to the freeze.
Samuel ordered the guests removed from the mansion.
I walked toward the console table.
My wedding ring remained beside the broken glass.
Andrew watched me pick it up.
“You are still my wife.”
I dropped the ring into the shattered champagne glass.
“Not for long.”
We drove to Escalante Tower.
The silver key opened a deposit compartment behind my father’s old office.
Inside was a handwritten ledger.
Names.
Dates.
Transfers.
Blackmail payments.
Margaret Hale.
Victor Lang.
Brenda Warren.
Marcus Voss.
Samuel Grant.
Beside Samuel’s name, my father had written:
PRIMARY ARCHITECT.
I looked up.
Samuel stood near the door.
He quietly locked it.
“Explain this.”
He looked at the ledger.
“That record is incomplete.”
“It says you designed the scheme.”
“I designed the contingency agreement.”
“Did you design my marriage?”
“No.”
“Did you know Andrew was recruited?”
Silence.
My pulse changed.
“You knew.”
“Your father knew first.”
The intercom activated.
Marcus’s voice came through.
“Mariana, step away from Samuel. The ledger is fabricated.”
Samuel looked toward the speaker.
“Ask Marcus where Margaret went.”
The floor beneath us trembled.
A hidden panel opened behind my father’s desk.
Margaret climbed into the room holding a gun.
She pointed it at Samuel.
“He is right about one thing,” she said. “The ledger is incomplete.”
Then she looked at me.
May you like
“Samuel did not merely protect the Escalante fortune.”
“He stole it.”
