Chapter 2 - My Fiancée Had Been Watching Me SleepThe external server contained fourteen months of footage.
My office.
Library.
Driveway.
Conference room.
Bedroom hallway.
Even the sitting room where attorneys routinely discussed privileged merger strategy.
Not every camera had audio.
Six did.
Those six were positioned precisely where sensitive conversations happened.
I looked at Veronica.
“Explain.”
She crossed her arms.
“You’re overreacting.”
“Explain.”
“My company recommended the installer.”
“That doesn’t explain why footage was transmitted to your private server.”
“It was a backup service.”
Harris answered:
“No, ma’am.”
She turned.
He continued.
“The files were indexed by person, meeting, and keyword.”
I looked at the screen.
Folders:
ADRIAN — VALE
BOARD
LEGAL
MERGER RESISTANCE
Then one:
ELENA RETURN POSSIBILITY
My blood ran cold.
I clicked.
Empty.
Created nine months ago.
Nine months before Elena appeared.
I turned toward Veronica.
“You expected her.”
“No.”
“The folder has her name.”
“Marcus mentioned she might surface someday.”
There.
Marcus.
I said nothing.
Veronica realized.
Too late.
My attorney, Rebecca Sloan, arrived at 1:10 a.m.
She ordered the network isolated and a forensic team called.
Then told Veronica:
“You should obtain separate counsel.”
Veronica laughed.
“You work for Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“That means you have no authority over me.”
“Correct.”
Rebecca smiled faintly.
“But the police we just called do.”
Veronica’s face tightened.
By then Elena had regained consciousness upstairs.
I wanted answers.
Dr. Lee wanted her alive.
He won.
At three in the morning, Harris found something else.
One camera had recorded Veronica in my office four months earlier.
She was alone.
She photographed merger documents.
Then made a phone call.
No audio.
But phone records later identified the recipient.
Marcus Vale.
I sat in silence.
For five years, I had believed Elena was the traitor.
Now the woman I planned to marry appeared to be feeding information to the same man.
Rebecca asked:
“Do you want me to suspend merger negotiations immediately?”
“No.”
She looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because if Marcus knows Elena reached me, he runs.”
“And?”
“We don’t tell him.”
I looked at Veronica.
“Neither does she.”
Veronica laughed.
“You think I’m afraid of you?”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I think you’re afraid of Marcus.”
That landed.
Her expression changed for half a second.
Enough.
At sunrise, detectives arrived.
They confiscated server hardware.
Veronica’s attorney arrived soon afterward.
She left voluntarily after agreeing to preserve devices.
Before walking out, she stopped beside me.
“You’re making the same mistake you made five years ago.”
“What mistake?”
“Believing Elena.”
I looked at her.
“Five years ago, I didn’t.”
She had no answer.
Upstairs, Elena woke again.
This time alone except for me.
She studied my face.
“You got older.”
“So did you.”
“Not gracefully.”
“Nearly dying in snow isn’t flattering.”
A faint smile.
Then it disappeared.
“Marcus knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That I took the ledger.”
“What ledger?”
She looked toward the closed door.
“Adrian…”
For the first time, I saw something I had never seen in Elena during our marriage.
Fear without pride covering it.
“He didn’t just steal your company.”
“He built his entire empire from stolen companies.”
I sat down.
“And the deaths?”
Her eyes filled.
“Some people tried to talk.”
“What happened?”
“Accidents.”
“Proof?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Families.”
“Silence agreements.”
“Shell insurance settlements.”
I leaned back.
“How many?”
Elena whispered:
“Seven.”
Seven executives.
Seven suspicious deaths.
Seven families paid afterward.
May you like
Then:
“And one of them was supposed to be me.”
Related Stories
