Chapter 8 - THE DEED IN THE SAFE
The hotel’s primary vault was located beneath the administrative wing.
Only three people possessed full access.
Naomi.
The director of security.
And, until that night, Julian.
We entered the vault at 12:18 a.m.
The director of security opened box 117.
Inside were the missing original deed, two sealed trust amendments, and a red folder.
The folder contained an unsigned sale agreement.
Julian had negotiated to sell the flagship estate to a private investment consortium.
The proposed price was six hundred and eighty million dollars.
The buyer believed Aurelia Hospitality owned the property.
Julian planned to use the proceeds to fund Hart Cole International.
The agreement was scheduled to be signed Monday morning.
My father read the first page twice.
“He was attempting to sell property belonging to the trust.”
Julian shook his head.
“This was a preliminary proposal.”
“You placed the original deed in the vault.”
“I needed it for due diligence.”
“The deed clearly identifies Meridian as the owner.”
“I planned to resolve the structure before closing.”
“How?”
Julian looked at me.
“You could have transferred the land.”
I almost laughed.
“You expected me to give you an estate worth hundreds of millions after you served me with divorce papers?”
“I expected you to negotiate.”
“You planned to have me declared incompetent.”
“That was Martin’s idea.”
“You paid him.”
My father turned to the security director.
“Preserve every vault-access record.”
The director nodded.
Julian moved toward me.
“Elena, I made mistakes.”
“That is an interesting word for fraud.”
“No sale occurred.”
“Because you were caught before Monday.”
He lowered his voice.
“We can still fix this.”
“Fix what?”
“The marriage.”
Vanessa stood at the vault entrance.
Her face twisted.
“You told me you stopped loving her years ago.”
Julian ignored her.
“Elena, we built Aurelia together.”
“I believed that once.”
“We can remove Vanessa from the company.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“You cannot blame all of this on me.”
Julian turned sharply.
“You moved the money.”
“You approved it.”
“You forged the consulting reports.”
“You told me to create whatever was necessary.”
Their partnership began collapsing in front of us.
Each accusation revealed another secret.
Vanessa admitted that Julian had planned to announce their relationship publicly after the European financing was approved.
Julian admitted that Vanessa had arranged the offshore accounts.
Vanessa claimed Julian had ordered staff members to report my movements.
Julian claimed Vanessa had suggested the conservatorship plan.
By the time they stopped shouting, Celia had written six pages of notes.
Then the security director received an alert.
Someone was attempting to access the resort’s server room.
The camera feed appeared on a wall monitor.
Martin Voss had not left the property.
He was inside the service corridor with a former Northstar technician.
The technician held a portable drive.
Naomi enlarged the image.
“They’re trying to reach the backup servers.”
Marcus looked at Julian.
“What is stored there?”
Julian’s eyes shifted toward the floor.
That was all the answer we needed.
The director sent security to the server room.
Martin and the technician were stopped before entering.
The portable drive contained software designed to delete archived communications.
It also contained a list of targeted files.
At the top of that list was a folder named NIGHTFALL.
Marcus searched the backup system.
The folder held hundreds of emails between Julian, Martin, and Vanessa.
One email had been sent only four hours earlier.
May you like
Its subject line read:
REMOVE ELENA BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
