Chapter 5 - The File Behind the Wedding
Dad asked Malcolm to bring everything.
Access logs.
Hallway footage.
Keycard records.
Guest credentials.
Within twenty minutes, the bridal lounge had turned into an investigation room.
Dominic continued knocking.
Nobody opened the door.
I stared at the access report.
My credential number appeared six times.
Each entry happened when I was elsewhere.
Dad pointed toward the dates.
“These started four months ago.”
My stomach dropped.
Four months.
Before Chloe became engaged.
Before this wedding was scheduled.
Before tonight.
“What was accessed?”
Malcolm looked uncomfortable.
“Corporate archive rooms.”
Dad's attorney, Rebecca Shaw, leaned forward.
“Which files?”
“Ownership agreements.”
“Trust structures.”
“Property transfer records.”
Dad and Rebecca exchanged a glance.
I knew that look.
It meant the problem was bigger than they wanted me to understand yet.
“Tell me.”
Rebecca folded her hands.
“Vivienne, your grandfather's trust converts certain assets into your sole control when your first child is born.”
I stared at her.
“I know.”
Dominic did not.
At least, I had never told him.
The trust included several hotel properties, investment accounts, and a large block of Whitaker Holdings voting shares.
Its value was enormous.
Dad tapped the table.
“If someone had access to the right records, they could learn the transfer schedule.”
A chill moved through me.
“My baby.”
Rebecca nodded carefully.
“The trust activates after a live birth.”
I suddenly remembered dozens of strange conversations.
Dominic asking whether the baby would carry his surname.
Eleanor asking if I had a will.
Chloe joking that pregnancy had finally made me “useful.”
At the time, they had sounded cruel.
Now they sounded calculated.
Malcolm placed another image on the table.
The photograph showed Gerald Pike carrying a document envelope from the records hallway.
Dad's jaw tightened.
“Find out what was removed.”
A pounding suddenly struck the lounge door.
Dominic's voice came through.
“Vivienne.”
“We need to leave.”
Nobody answered.
His voice became sharper.
“Now.”
Dad stood.
“Why?”
Silence.
Then Dominic said something that made every person in the room turn toward the door.
“Because my mother is gone.”
Eleanor had disappeared from the ballroom.
So had Gerald Pike.
And according to Malcolm's security team, they had left the hotel twelve minutes earlier carrying a leather document case.
May you like
The same case Pike had taken from the executive archive.
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