Chapter 15 - THE ARCHIVE
Dr. Vale was transported under guard.
Nathan followed.
He trusted Vale almost as little as Simon.
But he needed the archive opened before nine the next morning.
The townhouse looked ordinary.
That made it worse.
For twelve years, Nathan had passed properties Simon controlled without knowing.
The basement entrance was hidden behind shelving.
Vale placed his hand against the scanner.
Nothing happened.
Rachel frowned.
“Again.”
Vale tried.
A red light flashed.
ACCESS REVOKED.
Nathan swore.
“Simon removed him.”
Rachel looked toward a keypad.
“There’s a backup.”
“What?”
“Dual authentication.”
“With whose code?”
“Mine used to work.”
She entered six digits.
Denied.
Nathan stared at the steel door.
“Break it.”
Rachel shook her head.
“Tamper sensor.”
“What happens?”
“Server wipes.”
Bennett looked frustrated.
“Can we disable it?”
“Maybe.”
“How long?”
Rachel looked at the clock.
“Too long.”
Nathan’s phone rang.
Simon.
From custody.
Bennett frowned.
“How is he calling?”
An officer answered.
“Authorized solicitor call forwarded.”
Nathan put it on speaker.
Simon sounded amused.
“Having trouble downstairs?”
Nathan stared at the steel door.
“You’re watching.”
“Not currently.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because you eventually go where information leads.”
Nathan clenched his jaw.
“Give me the code.”
“No.”
“Your files go public too.”
Simon laughed.
“I know.”
“You will implicate yourself.”
“I’m already implicated.”
“Then why?”
“Because if I fall, the Harcourts fall with me.”
Nathan looked at the door.
“I don’t care.”
Simon became silent.
Nathan continued.
“That is the part you still don’t understand.”
“I will testify.”
“I will publish the Aster records.”
“I will acknowledge the Ellis claim.”
“I will cooperate with regulators.”
“If the company collapses, it collapses.”
Simon’s voice hardened.
“You would destroy your father’s legacy.”
“My father died trapped in the same lie.”
“You would erase generations of work.”
“No.”
“I would stop using the work as an excuse.”
Simon went silent.
Nathan saw Rachel watching him.
He continued.
“Give me the code or don’t.”
“Either way, you have no company to hold over me.”
Simon spoke softly.
“What about Jamie’s future?”
Nathan smiled bitterly.
“My son almost watched me die because every adult around him cared about his inheritance.”
“He can have less money.”
“He will have a father.”
The line became quiet.
Then Simon said.
“Your wife would approve.”
Nathan’s rage flashed.
“You do not get to speak about her.”
“I knew her better than you realize.”
Nathan went still.
“What does that mean?”
Simon laughed softly.
“Ask Claire who funded Amelia’s investigation.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
“Your wife did not discover everything alone.”
“Who helped her?”
Simon ended the call.
Nathan stared at the phone.
Another seed of distrust.
Simon’s favorite weapon.
Nathan refused to chase it.
“Open the door.”
Rachel looked at him.
“I told you.”
“Not the biometric system.”
“The building plans.”
“What?”
“This property used to belong to Harcourt Global.”
“I can access original architectural plans.”
Nathan called the facilities director.
Minutes later, old blueprints arrived.
The basement archive had once been a wine cellar.
There was a drainage tunnel.
Small.
But accessible.
Police entered through the neighboring property.
After two hours, a technician reached the server room without tripping the main door.
Rachel guided them.
The server was disconnected from external networks.
The dead-man switch could not transmit.
Bennett exhaled.
Nathan did not.
“Clone everything.”
They did.
File after file emerged.
Secret agreements.
Bribes.
Private surveillance.
Trust amendments.
Medical reports.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
Evidence of decades of manipulation.
Nathan saw his life reduced to folders.
NATHAN EDUCATION.
NATHAN MARRIAGE.
NATHAN HEALTH.
NATHAN BOARD.
JAMIE BEHAVIOR.
He stopped.
“Open that.”
Rachel hesitated.
Nathan insisted.
Videos appeared.
Jamie playing.
Jamie asking for his father.
Jamie crying after Eleanor told him Amelia left.
Nathan could barely watch.
Then one file.
JAMIE COMPLIANCE TEST.
Nathan felt sick.
He opened it.
The video showed Eleanor in the playroom.
She placed a small wrapped gift on the table.
Jamie reached for it.
Eleanor stopped him.
“Wait.”
He froze.
“Good boy.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
Eleanor moved the present farther away.
“You only take what Grandma says you may take.”
Jamie nodded.
She repeated the exercise.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Teaching obedience.
Nathan wanted to break the monitor.
Rachel looked ashamed.
“I didn’t know these existed.”
Nathan ignored her.
Another file.
JAMIE FEAR RESPONSE.
He stared.
“Open it.”
Nora appeared on-screen.
Nathan froze.
The recording showed Nora in Jamie’s room.
Jamie had awakened crying.
Nora comforted him.
Then Eleanor entered.
She ordered Nora out.
Nora refused.
Nathan’s chest tightened.
He watched the argument.
Eleanor said.
“You are staff.”
Nora answered.
“I am the person he asked to stay.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“You are becoming too attached.”
Nora looked at Jamie.
“He needs someone.”
“He has family.”
“He is afraid of his family.”
Nathan stared.
Nora had known.
Not everything.
But enough.
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“Be careful.”
Nora answered.
“Is that a threat?”
“Yes.”
Jamie heard every word.
The video ended.
Nathan closed his eyes.
Nora had protected him long before the pastry.
She had probably been the only adult in the house consistently doing so.
Another file appeared.
NORA TERMINATION.
Nathan opened it.
Simon sat with Eleanor.
Eleanor said.
“She needs to go.”
Simon responded.
“Not yet.”
“She encourages Jamie to speak.”
“That can be useful.”
“How?”
“If Nathan eventually suspects you, Nora becomes a convenient alternative suspect.”
Nathan felt cold.
Simon continued.
“She prepares food.”
“She handles Jamie.”
“She collects prescriptions.”
“She has access to bedrooms.”
Eleanor looked uncomfortable.
“You want to frame her.”
Simon smiled.
“I want options.”
Nathan stared at the screen.
Nora had been one contingency away from losing everything.
Perhaps prison.
Perhaps worse.
Rachel whispered.
“He kept alternatives for everyone.”
Nathan nodded.
“That is why nobody felt safe enough to expose him.”
Bennett opened another folder.
PETER.
Inside were payment records.
One payment coincided with Amelia’s death.
Nathan stared.
Recipient.
P. LANG CONSULTING.
Amount.
£250,000.
Approved by A.H.
Nathan’s pulse spiked.
Adrian Harcourt.
There it was.
A direct payment.
Bennett looked at him.
“This is strong evidence.”
Nathan felt no satisfaction.
He felt grief.
His brother had financed the act that killed Amelia.
Maybe he intended delay.
Maybe intimidation.
But the money was real.
Another file contained audio.
Adrian’s voice.
“Just stop the car.”
Peter.
“How?”
“I don’t care.”
“Make it not start.”
“Cut something.”
“Remove something.”
“Just make sure she doesn’t get to London.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Peter laughed.
“You Harcourts really hate difficult conversations.”
Adrian answered.
“Don’t hurt her.”
Peter.
“Then maybe don’t ask people like me for favors.”
The audio ended.
Nathan’s hands shook.
That was enough.
Adrian had known exactly who he hired.
Exactly what kind of man.
He had not ordered murder.
But he had chosen danger.
Bennett quietly left to arrange charges.
Rachel continued searching.
Then she stopped.
“Nathan.”
He looked over.
“What?”
“There is a folder labeled HARCOURT PATERNITY.”
Nathan frowned.
“My father?”
“I don’t know.”
They opened it.
Documents appeared.
Birth certificates.
DNA reports.
Private laboratory results.
Nathan read.
Then his entire body froze.
JAMES NATHANIEL HARCOURT.
Jamie.
Paternity probability.
99.99%.
Nathan stared.
“That is me.”
Rachel nodded.
“Why would Simon test Jamie’s paternity?”
“Leverage.”
Nathan whispered.
“But it confirms he’s mine.”
Rachel opened the second document.
MATERNAL LINEAGE ANALYSIS.
Nathan frowned.
Amelia was obviously Jamie’s mother.
The report compared Amelia’s DNA against another sample.
A person named Margaret Ellis.
Nathan stared.
“No.”
Rachel looked closer.
The probability suggested distant biological relation.
Not close.
But significant.
Nathan felt his mind reel.
“Amelia was related to the Ellis family?”
Rachel searched.
Another genealogy file.
Amelia’s maternal grandfather descended from a branch of the Ellis line.
That meant Jamie was connected to Ellis ancestry through Amelia too.
Not as directly as Lily.
But enough to complicate inheritance claims.
Nathan laughed softly.
Simon had been mapping bloodlines.
Children.
Heirs.
Claims.
Not people.
Trees.
Assets.
Probability.
Rachel opened a memo.
Simon’s writing.
J.H. may provide settlement continuity if T.E. refuses cooperation.
Maternal Ellis link weak but politically useful.
Nathan stared.
Jamie had not been targeted because he was disposable.
He was targeted because Simon wanted to possess the one person who could symbolically unite competing claims.
Then Rachel found something worse.
A schedule.
FINAL EVENT.
August 23.
7:00 p.m.
Nathan read.
Phase 1: N.H. incapacitation.
Phase 2: Eleanor exposure.
Phase 3: Adrian implication.
Phase 4: J.H. relocation.
Phase 5: Thomas settlement.
Every step from last night.
Then beneath it.
Phase 6: public disclosure of Amelia evidence if necessary.
Nathan stared.
Simon had planned to use Amelia’s murder investigation as leverage too.
Not merely hide it.
If needed, he would expose Adrian.
Destroy Eleanor.
Then present himself to Thomas and Jamie’s guardians as the only neutral fiduciary.
A savior created from chaos he engineered.
Nathan felt disgust.
Rachel scrolled farther.
Final line.
If N.H. rejects settlement, activate succession.
Nathan frowned.
“What is succession?”
Rachel searched.
A linked file opened.
Inside was a legal petition.
Nathan read the first page.
His heart stopped.
PETITION FOR PRESUMPTION OF DEATH.
Applicant.
Harcourt Family Trust.
Subject.
Nathan Harcourt.
Prepared months ago.
Not filed.
Another document followed.
Private aviation schedule.
A flight from London to a remote airfield.
Yesterday night.
Passenger manifest blank.
Rachel whispered.
“He planned to disappear you.”
Nathan stared.
The pastry might not have been intended to kill him.
Perhaps the cardiac compound was enough to incapacitate.
Then Simon could remove him.
Keep him somewhere.
Create uncertainty.
Eventually seek legal presumption.
Nathan felt sick.
“Why risk the cardiac drug?”
Rachel shook her head.
“Maybe Simon didn’t.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
“Look at the document.”
She highlighted a line.
The planned pastry formulation listed only sedative.
No cardiac medication.
Nathan froze.
“Then who added it?”
Rachel searched Simon’s notes.
Nothing.
Nathan’s pulse quickened.
This changed the attempted poisoning again.
Simon wanted Nathan incapacitated.
Someone else wanted him dead.
Who?
Eleanor claimed she only added an insect.
Adrian knew about the sedative plan.
Vale claimed he provided sedatives only.
Simon’s file supported that.
Someone had added Eleanor’s cardiac medication to the switched pastry after Simon prepared it.
Who had access?
Graham carried it.
Peter moved through the house.
Nora worked near the kitchen.
Chef Marco.
Other staff.
Nathan’s mind raced.
Rachel found a camera clip from the dining corridor.
Recovered from Simon’s private hidden feed.
Timestamp 7:05 p.m.
Graham carried the substituted pastry toward the dining room.
He stopped.
Someone stepped into frame.
Nathan leaned closer.
Chef Marco.
Nathan frowned.
Marco spoke to Graham.
No audio.
Then he lifted the pastry.
Graham turned away for several seconds.
Marco adjusted the cream.
Nathan’s stomach dropped.
“What is he doing?”
Rachel zoomed in.
Marco appeared to insert something beneath the top layer.
Nathan stared.
The chef.
The man who had told him Mrs. Harcourt passed through the kitchen.
The man everyone had overlooked because the drama centered on family.
Bennett was called back.
Police rushed to locate Marco DeLuca.
He had left the estate shortly after midnight.
His phone was off.
His home empty.
Nathan remembered Nora saying the original special pastry had not been on the kitchen tray.
Marco had known.
Perhaps more than anyone.
Rachel searched for Marco in the archive.
One folder.
M.D.
Inside was a payment record.
Not from Simon.
From Eleanor.
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Mother paid him.”
Amount.
£400,000.
Three days ago.
Memo.
CONSULTING.
Nathan felt rage.
Had Eleanor lied again?
Had she secretly ordered the lethal ingredient while claiming Simon did it?
Then Rachel opened the account destination.
The payment had not gone to Marco personally.
It went to a medical treatment fund.
Beneficiary.
SOFIA DELUCA.
Nathan frowned.
“Who is Sofia?”
A quick search answered.
Marco’s eight-year-old daughter.
Receiving experimental cancer treatment in Switzerland.
Nathan felt the familiar pattern.
A vulnerable person.
Money.
Pressure.
Simon loved leverage.
But this payment came from Eleanor.
Nathan stared.
“Find out who authorized it.”
Digital records showed Eleanor’s token.
But authorization originated from Simon’s office network.
Forged or manipulated.
Rachel whispered.
“He could move money as her.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Even Eleanor might not know.
Bennett’s phone rang.
She listened.
Then looked at Nathan.
“We found Marco.”
“Where?”
“He turned himself in.”
Nathan stood.
“What did he say?”
Bennett’s expression became grim.
“He says he put the cardiac medication into the pastry.”
Nathan felt cold.
“Why?”
Bennett answered.
“Because someone told him if he didn’t, funding for his daughter’s treatment would disappear.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“Simon.”
Bennett shook her head.
“Marco says it wasn’t Simon.”
Nathan stared.
“Who?”
Bennett answered.
May you like
“Adrian.”
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