Chapter 5 - The Night of the Break-In
The West Wing was drowned in shadows. Grace glided down the hallway, keeping her back pressed against the wood-paneled wall. The library door was unlocked and cracked open an inch, casting a thin blade of pale light onto the dark carpet.
Grace peered through the crack.
Victoria was standing behind Nathaniel’s massive executive desk, her back to the door. The large oil painting of Nathaniel’s father had been swung forward, revealing the heavy wall safe beneath it. Victoria was wearing thin leather gloves, her fingers quickly spinning the combination dial.
Click. Click. Clack.
The safe door swung open.
Victoria reached inside, pulling out a thick binder of legal documents and a dark blue ledger. She quickly laid them on the desk and began using her smartphone to take high-resolution photographs of every page.
Grace raised her own phone, aiming the camera lens through the gap in the door, and began recording video of Victoria photographing the confidential documents. This was clear, irrefutable evidence of corporate espionage and theft.
Suddenly, a floorboard behind Grace creaked softly.
Grace’s blood ran cold. She spun around, but before she could react, a heavy hand clamped over her mouth, and a strong arm wrapped around her waist, dragging her silently back into the dark recess of the adjacent study.
Grace struggled violently, using her elbows to strike her captor's ribs, but the grip was iron-clad.
"Shh! Grace, stop! It's me!" a harsh whisper echoed in her ear.
Grace froze. The voice belonged to Nathaniel.
He released his grip on her mouth but kept a steady hand on her shoulder. In the dim moonlight filtering through the window, Grace could see his face. His features were tight with intense focus, his eyes dark and alert.
"Mr. Caldwell?" she breathed, her pulse skyrocketing. "What... what are you doing here?"
"I was coming down to get a book from the library when I saw the door open," Nathaniel whispered, his face inches from hers. "What is going on? Why were you recording?"
Grace didn't speak. Instead, she turned him toward the gap in the door leading into the main library.
Nathaniel stepped up to the opening and looked inside.
Through the crack, he saw his fiancée, Victoria Ashford, frantically removing files from his safe, sliding a flash drive into his master computer, and copying confidential corporate algorithms while whispering furiously to someone on her earpiece.
"I have the ledger files," Victoria was saying into her headset. "Once we upload these to the press tomorrow morning, Caldwell Enterprises' stock will drop by 40%. My father's firm can buy up the controlling shares before Nathaniel even realizes what hit him. He’ll have no choice but to merge and give us full authority."
Nathaniel’s jaw clenched so hard the muscles in his cheek twitched. The expression on his face transformed from shock to a devastating, icy rage. The illusion was shattered; the woman he had intended to marry was actively orchestrating his destruction.
He made a sudden move toward the library door, but Grace reached out and grabbed his arm, holding him back.
"No, Mr. Caldwell," Grace whispered urgently. "If you confront her now, she will claim she was just looking for family documents. Her father's lawyers will tie you up in court for years. Let her finish downloading the files onto that drive. The moment she leaves this room with that physical evidence, she has committed a federal felony."
Nathaniel looked down at Grace’s hand on his sleeve—the white bandage still covering her healing skin. He looked into her eyes, seeing a sharp, brilliant intelligence and a fierce courage that he had overlooked for six long years.
He nodded slowly, stepping back into the shadows beside her. "You knew," he murmured softly. "You knew all along."
"I found the initial wire transfers three weeks ago," Grace admitted quietly. "I was trying to get enough hard proof before I came to you."
Nathaniel’s gaze softened with a mixture of profound gratitude and deep shame. "And she was trying to force you out because you were close to finding it."
"Yes."
Nathaniel took Grace's hand in his, his large, warm fingers gently closing around her bandaged palm. "I am so sorry, Grace. I brought a monster into this house, and I let her hurt you."
"We can fix it tonight," Grace said, her voice steady and resolute.
May you like
Inside the library, the sound of the safe door closing echoed through the quiet room. Victoria picked up her purse, tucked the stolen flash drive inside, and turned off the library desk lamp.
"She's leaving," Nathaniel whispered, his voice dripping with absolute authority. "Stay behind me."
