Everyone Blamed the Woman in White for the Fall—Until the Missing Staircase Footage Exposed a Secret Worth Millions

Chapter 06 - The Secret in the Red Clutch

They had less than six hours. Celeste, Ethan, and Daniel drove to the foundation headquarters while Chloe remained under hospital protection. Ethan used his trustee access to enter the building, but the records floor had already been sealed. Through the glass doors, they saw boxes stacked beside the freight elevator and two men feeding documents into industrial shredders.

Ethan called security and ordered the destruction stopped. The guards hesitated. Marcus had told them Ethan was emotionally unstable and temporarily removed from authority. That lie gave Celeste enough time to photograph the boxes and their tracking labels. One label carried the name Red Harbor Consulting, a company on Chloe's list.

Daniel created a diversion by triggering the loading-dock alarm. While the guards ran downstairs, Celeste and Ethan entered the records room. They recovered only one intact file before Marcus appeared at the far end of the corridor.

“You should have stayed at the hospital,” Marcus said to Ethan. “Grief makes people reckless.”

“Where did the donations go?” Ethan demanded.

Marcus smiled. “Ask the woman who copied the accounts and then pushed your sister.”

Ethan stepped between him and Celeste. “I know she didn't.”

For the first time, Marcus looked uncertain.

They escaped with the file, but its contents seemed useless: catering invoices, property maintenance, and renovation expenses. Back at Noah's office, Celeste compared the dates to the damaged memory card. The amounts matched transfers to Red Harbor, but each invoice had been approved with Ethan's electronic signature.

“I never signed these,” he said.

Noah examined the certificate and found that the approvals originated from an old tablet registered to Ethan's late father. The device had been kept in Vivian's study for years. The theft had been designed not only to enrich Vivian but also to make Ethan appear responsible if anyone investigated.

Inside Chloe's red clutch, Celeste found one more hidden compartment. It contained a photograph of Eleanor holding the same tablet and standing beside a wall safe in Hawthorne House. On the back, Eleanor had written a date and four words: For Ethan, when ready.

Ethan recognized the room immediately. It was his father's library, which Vivian had kept locked since the funeral.

Returning to the house meant walking into Vivian's territory. Yet the safe might hold the original will, Eleanor's evidence, or nothing at all.

Ethan looked at Celeste. “I don't deserve to ask you for help.”