Chapter 10 - THE SAFE BELOW THE HOUSE
Derek demanded an explanation.
Brenda refused to give one.
That told me everything.
Patricia explained instead.
For years, Brenda had kept sensitive family documents in a secured archive beneath the Wexler house.
Contracts.
Old loan agreements.
Personal correspondence.
Documents she didn’t trust accountants to keep.
Including papers from Derek’s relationship with Lauren.
Maya immediately requested a preservation order through outside counsel.
By evening, nobody from the Wexler family was legally permitted to destroy company records relevant to the lender investigation.
Derek sent me twelve messages.
I answered none.
At 9:42 p.m., Patricia called.
“Brenda is at the house.”
“So?”
“She’s cleaning.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means she’s burning things.”
Within minutes, Maya contacted Northstar’s emergency litigation counsel.
The house was private property.
But company records stored there could not legally be destroyed once a formal preservation notice had been received.
Thomas confirmed several original accounting ledgers were kept in Brenda’s basement safe.
An attorney contacted local authorities.
I stayed at Maya’s apartment.
At 10:16 p.m., my security application notified me of repeated access attempts at the Wexler house.
Brenda had tried to change the administrator account.
She couldn’t.
Derek had never bothered removing me.
I opened the camera dashboard.
I hadn’t realized the system included corridor cameras.
There was Brenda.
Carrying banker boxes toward the basement.
Then Derek appeared.
He opened one.
Even without audio, his reaction told me he had found something he didn’t expect.
He lifted a document.
Read it.
Then stared at his mother.
Brenda grabbed for it.
Derek pulled it away.
Maya watched beside me.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
We zoomed in.
The page was impossible to read.
But we could see a signature.
Not mine.
Not Lauren’s.
A man’s.
Then Derek threw the box onto the floor.
Papers scattered everywhere.
Brenda pointed toward the camera.
The feed disappeared.
I leaned back.
“She found the system.”
Maya shook her head.
“Too late.”
The footage had already uploaded to cloud storage.
At 10:31 p.m., Derek called.
I answered.
His voice sounded different.
No arrogance.
No anger.
Fear.
“Chloe.”
“What?”
“I need to see you.”
“No.”
“This isn’t about us.”
“Everything tonight seems to be about us.”
“My mother lied to me.”
I said nothing.
His breathing became uneven.
“There’s something in the safe.”
“What?”
“A contract.”
I waited.
“Derek.”
His next words arrived almost as a whisper.
“My father didn’t leave me the company.”
I sat upright.
“What are you talking about?”
“He left it to a trust.”
“What trust?”
May you like
Derek swallowed.
“The Bennett Family Trust.”
