Chapter 7 - The Blackout

The hidden eighteenth floor became completely dark.

Daniel whispered.

“Stay behind me.”

Charlotte did not move.

Footsteps approached.

Slowly.

Then stopped outside Room 1816.

Someone tested the handle.

Locked.

Charlotte pulled out her phone.

No signal.

The lights had not simply failed.

The entire floor’s communications system had been cut.

Daniel quietly moved a chair beneath the handle.

A voice came from outside.

“Charlotte.”

Adrian Mercer.

Daniel looked at her.

Charlotte felt anger replace fear.

Adrian continued.

“You are making this more dangerous than it needs to be.”

Charlotte answered through the door.

“That sounds like a threat.”

“It’s advice.”

“From the man my mother warned me about?”

Silence.

Then Adrian said.

“Your mother misunderstood what was happening.”

“She misunderstood forty-three million dollars?”

“She misunderstood why it moved.”

Charlotte looked at the ledger in her hands.

“She wrote everything down.”

The silence outside became longer.

That told her enough.

Adrian spoke again.

“Open the door.”

“No.”

“Charlotte.”

“You should get used to hearing that.”

Daniel almost smiled.

Then another sound came from the hallway.

An elevator bell.

Voices.

Hotel security.

Rosa had noticed the hidden elevator was active and called the independent auditors.

Adrian disappeared before security reached the corridor.

When the lights returned, Charlotte immediately checked the elevator logs.

Adrian’s executive key had accessed Floor 18.

He could no longer claim he did not know it existed.

Daniel called police.

Adrian’s attorney called the board.

By evening, the Solmere conspiracy was moving into public view.

Charlotte refused to leave the hotel.

Instead, she requested an emergency board meeting for 8:00 the next morning.

Vivienne found her near the grand staircase.

The socialite no longer looked arrogant.

She looked frightened.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.”

Charlotte turned.

“I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“If you expose everything, Solmere’s stock will collapse.”

“Then maybe the people who stole from it should have thought about that.”

Vivienne stepped closer.

“My father has spent thirty years building relationships that protect this company.”

“Is that what you call bribing board members?”

Vivienne’s face changed.

Charlotte continued.

“My mother kept records.”

Vivienne whispered.

“You found the ledger.”

Charlotte did not answer.

Vivienne suddenly grabbed her arm.

Charlotte pulled away.

Several employees immediately moved closer.

Vivienne noticed.

She released her.

“You think these people love you?”

“No.”

Charlotte looked around the lobby.

“I think they’re finally realizing they don’t have to be afraid of you.”

Vivienne’s eyes filled with hatred.

Then she smiled.

“Tomorrow’s board meeting won’t go the way you think.”

“Why?”

“Because your mother had one more secret.”

Charlotte’s stomach tightened.

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Vivienne stepped backward.

“And when the board hears it, you may not own anything at all.”