Chapter 6 - The Key in the Lock
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Emma! Open this damn door!" Stephanie’s voice sliced through the heavy silence of the marble penthouse. The metallic click of a key entering the deadbolt echoed down the hallway.
"She has a spare key," Emma whispered in a panic, her eyes darting toward the desk. "Charles, she’s going to see you!"
"Collect yourself, Emma. Stand by the door," I said, my voice eerily calm as adrenaline surged through my veins.
I grabbed my phone, switched it to camera mode, and swept it across the desk in a slow, high-resolution video recording—capturing the forged Power of Attorney, the fake medical reports, the Willowbrook Estates blueprints, and the printed email threads. Next, I pulled out a portable USB drive from my pocket, plugged it into Stephanie’s desktop tower, and initiated a rapid transfer of the entire Willowbrook_Development project folder.
The heavy front door swung open and slammed against the wall.
Stephanie marched down the hallway in a silk trench coat, her face flushed with fury. "Emma, why on earth didn't you answer my—"
She froze in the doorway of her office.
Her eyes swept from her sister to me, and then to the desk. The color drained from her face as she noticed the unrolled blueprints and the file folders bearing my mother’s name spread open under the desk lamp.
"Charles?" her voice faltered, the aggressive edge instantly evaporating into sharp dread. "What... what are you doing here?"
May you like
I unplugged the USB drive, slid it into my pocket, and picked up the fake Power of Attorney document, holding it up so the overhead light caught the forged signature.
"I came to see what a fourteen-million-dollar joke looks like," I said softly.
