The Locked Security Office
Chapter 10 - The Locked Security Office
Marcus did not run. He laughed.
He claimed the recording was fabricated, the document was outdated, and Victoria had organized the entire scheme to remove him. Then he placed the leather portfolio on the table and invited Ruiz to search it.
Inside were ordinary business reports. The forged amendment Victoria had just read was gone.
A hidden camera showed how. When Daniel entered, Marcus had slid the page through a narrow opening beneath the boardroom table. The opening connected to a cable compartment leading into the locked security office next door.
Someone was still helping him inside the building.
Ruiz ordered the floor sealed. Daniel remembered that Owen Pike, Hart Tower’s security director, had once worked for Marcus. Pike had also supervised the temporary hotel camera system during the wedding.
Officers found the security office empty, its monitors still glowing. A service elevator was moving toward the parking garage.
Daniel and Ruiz reached the garage as Pike stepped out carrying the forged amendment and a laptop. He saw them, dropped the papers, and ran between the parked cars.
He did not get far.
On the laptop, investigators found the missing sections of hotel footage. Pike had copied them before deleting them from the main server. The video showed Celeste entering Room 814 through the service door, taking the necklace, and smearing some of Leo’s blood onto the outside of the display case. It also showed Marcus blocking the stairwell while the injured boy begged to pass.
The footage was devastating.
Pike admitted Marcus paid him to create the blackout and leak the edited hallway image. In exchange for leniency, he provided the password to an encrypted folder containing bank transfers, forged records used against Emma, and messages between Marcus and Celeste.
At the marina, police found Celeste aboard a small cabin cruiser. The Hawthorne necklace was sewn into the lining of the black suitcase. The original trust amendment was inside a waterproof pouch beneath the fuel locker.
Celeste surrendered without resistance.
By noon, news outlets that had accused Emma and Leo were publishing corrections. The full security video was not released because Leo was a minor, but police confirmed that he had tried to raise an alarm and had been deliberately framed.
Emma read the statement twice, then put her phone away.
“Does this mean people know I told the truth?” Leo asked.
“Yes,” she said.
He considered that. “Will they know before they say bad things next time?”
Emma wished she could promise him they would. Instead, she answered honestly.
“Some people may still choose the easiest story. But the people who love you must choose to listen first.”
Daniel arrived with the recovered race car in a clear evidence pouch. Ruiz had authorized its return.
May you like
Leo held it against his chest.
For the first time since the wedding, he smiled.
