Chapter 11 - The Bottle in the Bank Box
Victoire had spent years protecting one object she was too afraid to destroy.
Not out of courage.
Out of insurance.
"Where is it?" Elise asked.
"A bank box in Nice."
Sébastien laughed. "A bottle proves nothing."
"Maybe."
Elise sat across from him.
"But it proves enough to call police."
His eyes narrowed.
"And tell them what? That a frightened hotel executive found an old pill bottle?"
"I'll tell them about forged loan papers, ghost payroll, stolen deeds, cloned Founder access, and an attempted twelve-million-euro mortgage. The bottle can wait its turn."
For the first time that night, Sébastien looked tired.
Tired.
"You think this hotel is healthy because the lobby shines," he said. "Your father left debt everywhere. We were weeks from missing covenant payments when I took control."
"So you stole from staff?"
"I moved money."
"Into companies you controlled."
"To create liquidity."
"For yourself."
He leaned forward.
"For survival."
Elise almost believed he believed it.
Then Antoine received an alert.
"The bank moved the closing earlier."
"How early?"
"Six thirty."
It was 1:04 A.M.
Five and a half hours.
"Can we stop it?"
"Not without the original deed or a court order. The lender has a scanned deed and notarized signature."
Elise thought of the missing red binder.
"The original is somewhere in the hotel."
Sébastien smiled faintly.
"You hope."
A security radio crackled.
"Vincent, we have smoke in the records corridor."
Everyone stood.
Elise ran.
By the time they reached the basement, black smoke rolled under the door to B17.
The fire suppression system had failed.
Someone had set the banker boxes on fire.
Vincent shouted for extinguishers.
Elise stared through the smoke.
On the floor outside the burning room lay a navy-blue lanyard.
Attached to it was a heavy metal badge.
May you like
VIP - FOUNDER.
A fourth badge.
