Chapter 7 - THE OLD KITCHEN TABLET
Marco reached Daniel's room first.
The man was gone.
So was the folder containing Daniel's intake information.
Vincent moved Daniel to a private floor under his own security detail.
Then he and Emma returned to the Bellmore before sunrise.
The ballroom had been cleared, but the kitchens still smelled of coffee, butter, and bleach.
Emma led Vincent through a storage corridor to an old equipment cabinet.
The cracked tablet was still there beneath a stack of obsolete menus.
It would not turn on.
"Please tell me that's not our only copy," Vincent said.
Emma pulled out the memory card.
"Maybe not."
Marco brought a laptop.
The card contained hundreds of corrupted files.
One video opened.
The date was eight months earlier.
Dominic stood in a service hallway with Victoria.
"Isabella won't sign," Victoria said.
Dominic answered, "Then we make everyone believe she already did."
Victoria laughed.
"And the Carter problem?"
Dominic looked toward the camera without seeing it.
"The father is stubborn. The daughter works events. If he hid anything, she'll lead us to it eventually."
Emma's mouth went dry.
Victoria's voice lowered.
"Then keep her close enough to watch."
The video ended.
Emma remembered how Carl had hired her despite a thin resume.
How he always assigned her to executive floors.
How often Victoria attended events where Emma worked.
"My job wasn't an accident," she whispered.
Vincent looked furious.
Marco checked the remaining files.
"There's another clip."
The second video showed Carl handing Dominic a duplicate employee badge.
Emma's badge.
Then Carl said something that made Emma grip the counter.
"She doesn't know who her mother was, does she?"
May you like
Dominic smiled.
"No. And we're going to keep it that way."
