Chapter 4 - May Fourteenth

They checked the flash drive on an offline laptop in Martin's office at 1:17 in the morning.

Clara's parents had gone home with her aunt. Clara had changed into gray sweatpants and one of Robert's old college sweatshirts, but she still had wedding pins in her hair.

The drive held one folder.

MAY_14.

Inside were security-camera clips from Sterling Group's executive floor.

"Who copied these?" Clara asked.

"We don't know," Martin said.

The first clip showed Ethan entering the CFO's office at 10:42 p.m.

The second showed Olivia arriving twelve minutes later.

Ethan placed a folder on the desk.

Olivia pointed at a page.

The CFO, Charles Beck, shook his head repeatedly.

Then Ethan slammed his palm on the desk.

Clara leaned closer.

"He told me he was in Boston that night."

Martin clicked the next file.

This one had audio.

Beck's voice trembled. "She didn't authorize this."

Olivia answered, "She will once she's married to him."

Ethan said, "The closing is before the wedding. We don't have time."

"Then sign it," Olivia snapped.

Ethan went silent.

Beck whispered, "That's fraud."

Clara felt the room tilt.

Martin paused the video.

"You okay?"

"Keep going."

The recording resumed.

Ethan paced to the window. "If the loan fails, we lose the hotel division. If the hotel division goes, lenders start looking at everything else."

Olivia's voice became cold. "Clara is marrying into this family in six weeks. Her assets become our problem and our solution."

Clara's hands curled into fists.

Then Beck said something that made Martin stop the video again.

"What about the Harbor account?"

Olivia looked straight toward the hidden phone.

"Nobody touches Harbor until after the wedding."

Martin frowned. "Do you know what Harbor is?"

Clara shook her head.

Her phone rang from an unknown number.

She answered on speaker.

A man's voice whispered, "If you found the drive, they know you found it. Don't go home."

"Who is this?"

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A pause.

Then: "Charles Beck. And I have about ten minutes before they realize I'm gone."