Chapter 6 - The Leak
Rebecca locked the library doors.
Not dramatically.
Legally.
She asked hotel security to preserve every camera feed.
George said:
“This is absurd.”
Rebecca ignored him.
“Easton’s cybersecurity team flagged a credential breach at 11:14 p.m.”
Dad asked, “Whose credentials?”
“Vendor review portal. Temporary access.”
“Assigned to?”
Rebecca turned the screen.
MARTINEZ URBAN PARTNERS.
George swore.
“That doesn’t mean us.”
“No,” Dad said. “It means the credentials issued to you.”
Fiona entered before anyone could stop her.
“What is happening?”
George snapped, “Go back outside.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Blake?”
I said nothing.
Rebecca continued.
George stared.
“If someone saw those numbers—”
Fiona’s face changed.
“Dad?”
George rounded on her.
“Do not.”
Not family tension.
Fear.
Dad asked Rebecca:
“Was anything downloaded?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
George said, “I want counsel.”
Rebecca nodded.
“You should.”
Fiona looked at me.
“I didn’t know about this.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
She flinched.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photo.
Dad’s old house.
Taken that morning.
Message beneath it:
I showed Dad.
His face went blank.
Rebecca looked at it.
“Who has this number?”
“Too many people.”
Dad zoomed in.
The photograph showed our front porch.
His voice dropped.
“That car was there last week.”
I stared.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought it was real estate scouts.”
“Why would real estate scouts watch your house?”
He did not answer.
Then Fiona’s phone buzzed.
She looked.
Went pale.
“What?”
I asked.
She held up the screen.
Same sender.
Different message.
Your father already knows what Arthur is hiding.
May you like
George looked at her phone.
And for the second time that day, he looked like a man who had just seen a ghost.
