Seven Missing Minutes
Chapter 03 - Seven Missing Minutes
The private backup required Mrs. Sterling’s fingerprint and a passcode known only to her attorney. While a technician retrieved it, Damian paced beside the display case, insisting the gala had become a circus.
Elena held Lily close. “Why were you whispering about the girl before she crossed the rope?” she asked.
“I wasn’t.”
“Then you won’t mind watching the video.”
Damian leaned toward her. “You came because Mrs. Sterling hired you to review the foundation’s accounts. Walk away now, and your daughter will never have to see me again.”
Elena’s blood ran cold.
For three weeks, she had been quietly examining missing donations. Nearly two million dollars had vanished through payments approved by Damian. She had not told Lily, and Mrs. Sterling had promised no one knew about the audit.
Damian knew.
The backup footage appeared on a monitor.
It showed Damian entering the exhibit area alone. He used the red bracelet to unlock the case, removed a small velvet box from beneath the platform, and replaced it with an identical box from his jacket. Then he wiped the glass and slipped behind the crowd.
Minutes later, Lily noticed the bracelet after it fell from his pocket.
The room erupted.
Damian shouted that the video had been manipulated. But it continued, showing him speak into an earpiece and signal someone near the alarm panel. When Lily bent to retrieve the bracelet, Damian rushed forward and pushed her away.
He had not been protecting the diamond.
He had been trying to frame a little girl.
A guard opened the compartment beneath the display and removed the box Damian had planted. Inside was a convincing glass replica of the Aurora Diamond.
The real diamond was gone.
Mrs. Sterling looked devastated. Damian was not merely her employee. He was her late sister’s son—the nephew she had raised after his parents died.
“I gave you my name, my trust, and a place in this family,” she said.
Damian’s face twisted. “You gave me a job while strangers inherited your praise. I built this gala. I deserved more.”
He grabbed Noah’s cracked phone and threw it across the floor. Then he seized Lily’s arm and pulled her in front of him.
Elena stepped forward, but Damian backed toward the exit.
“Open the doors,” he warned, “or the child gets hurt.”
May you like
Lily was terrified, yet her eyes moved toward the red bracelet near Elena’s shoe.
Then she stomped hard on Damian’s foot, twisted free, and ran straight into her mother’s arms.
