Chapter 15 - Midnight at the Pier
Amelia filed for emergency relief that afternoon. The buyer's lawyers argued that the contract was binding, but the foundation's documents showed no valid founder consent and no authorized vote to replace Eleanor.
A judge temporarily blocked any transfer until the parties could be heard. It was not a final victory. It was a chance to keep the building standing long enough to prove who had tried to sell it.
Outside Harbor House, trucks arrived with fencing and equipment. Sonia met the foreman in the street.
"You don't have an order to touch this property," she said.
"We're here for a survey," he answered.
"Then show me the permission."
He could not. The trucks left after a city inspector arrived and confirmed the work required authorization that had not been granted.
Rose watched a little girl in a purple coat press her face against the window. Her stomach turned. That could have been her fifteen years earlier, watching strangers decide whether the only safe place she knew would survive.
Eli called, breathless.
"Someone tried to talk me into getting into a car outside my dorm. Said you were hurt and needed me. I went straight to the campus office like you told me."
"Are you safe now?"
"Yeah. I got the plate number. Rose, I hate this."
"Me too," she whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize for what they did."
Torres took the report and connected the plate to a vehicle leased by a company affiliated with Miles. For the first time, there was evidence linking the threats directly to the financial scheme.
At midnight the production company's technician called Torres. He had restored the time-lapse file from the original cloud blocks.
The first frames showed a wedding party, a distant skyline, and the bride walking toward Eleanor.
Then Victoria moved behind the older woman.
Torres leaned closer to the screen.
May you like
"Run that part again," she told the technician.
This time there was no mistaking what Victoria's hands did.
