Chapter 3 - SOMEONE USED HER BADGE
Vincent found Emma in the employee hallway ten minutes later.
He was no longer wearing the relaxed expression he had carried through the ballroom.
"Did you take anything from my mother's bag?"
Emma stared at him. "No."
"A blue envelope is missing."
"Your mother warned me not to let Victoria get it."
"I know."
He held up a tablet showing a security log.
"Your employee badge opened the private coat room six minutes after you were fired."
Emma's anger turned cold.
"I handed my badge to Carl."
"Who has it now?"
"No idea."
Marco appeared behind Vincent.
"We found the badge in a trash can near the east elevators."
Emma laughed once, without humor.
"Convenient."
Vincent studied her. "My mother says the envelope contained a notarized letter."
"About what?"
He hesitated.
"Someone has been pressuring her to sign control of the Moretti Foundation's voting shares into a temporary trust."
Emma blinked.
"Victoria?"
"My mother wouldn't say."
"She tried to slap her."
"Yes. Which makes subtlety less likely."
Emma should have left. She had already lost her job.
Then she remembered Isabella's frightened face.
"Check the service elevator cameras," she said.
Marco frowned. "Why?"
"Because staff use the service elevators to avoid guests. If someone wanted to move something without being seen, that's where they'd go."
Vincent nodded.
They reached the security office and pulled the feed.
At 9:14 p.m., a hooded figure entered the service elevator carrying a blue envelope.
The face was hidden.
But Emma recognized the shoes.
Black leather, polished to a mirror shine, with a silver buckle shaped like a lion.
She had seen them an hour earlier under Carl's tuxedo trousers.
"That's my manager."
Marco zoomed in.
The figure turned just enough for the camera to catch a hand.
On the ring finger was a heavy gold signet.
Carl wore no ring.
Vincent did.
May you like
Emma slowly looked at him.
The ring on the screen bore the Moretti crest.
