Chapter 8 - Elena’s Backup
The storage unit contained no furniture.
No clothes.
No personal keepsakes.
Only three banker’s boxes.
And a locked fireproof case.
Investigators photographed everything before opening it.
The boxes contained invoices from West Briar Renovations.
Bank transfers.
Emails.
Contract drafts.
Copies of Cassandro’s digital authorizations.
And a handwritten chart connecting twelve shell companies.
Martin studied the pages.
“This wasn’t eight million.”
Cassandro looked at him.
“How much?”
Martin began adding numbers.
When he stopped, his voice had changed.
“Seventeen point six.”
Vivienne and Damian had been stealing for years.
But Elena had discovered something even worse.
The money had not simply disappeared into personal accounts.
Part of it had been used to buy properties through shell companies.
Including West Briar.
The fireproof case contained a laptop.
It was encrypted.
A note taped beneath it read:
C—If you are seeing this, I was right about the money. I hope I was wrong about everything else.
Cassandro sat down.
Elena had feared him.
Not because she believed he would hurt her.
Because his name was on every authorization.
She had not known whether the man she loved was part of the crime.
Cassandro pressed his fingers against his eyes.
Rachel spoke gently.
“She was trying to protect Audrey.”
“I should have listened.”
“You didn’t know.”
“She tried to tell me.”
Nobody answered.
The laptop password was eventually recovered from Elena’s notes.
Inside was a folder titled BRIDGE.
There were photographs of forged contracts.
Audio notes.
And one video recorded two days before her disappearance.
Elena sat inside her car.
“If something happens to me, Vivienne Knox knows why.”
Cassandro stopped breathing.
Elena continued.
“Damian has access to our home security. I believe he copied Cassandro’s authorization credentials. I don’t believe Cassandro knows.”
Cassandro closed his eyes.
She had trusted him.
In the end, she had trusted him.
Then came the final line.
“I found a property attached to the shell companies. West Briar. If they realize I found it, that may be where they take the records—or me.”
Brooks stood.
“That’s enough.”
“For a warrant?”
“Yes.”
Cassandro rose immediately.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She’s my wife.”
“And if she’s there, the last thing I need is an armed husband walking into a hostage situation.”
Cassandro stared at her.
Brooks did not blink.
“You want Elena home? Let us do this correctly.”
Cassandro hated her for being right.
At 4:18 p.m., a judge signed the warrant.
By 4:31, deputies were moving toward West Briar.
Then Brooks’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Cassandro asked.
She lowered the phone.
“Someone just activated the security system at West Briar.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
May you like
Brooks grabbed her jacket.
“But whoever is there knows something is happening.”
