The Video They Tried to Erase
Chapter 07 - The Video They Tried to Erase
Celeste called the photograph a misunderstanding. Logan called it a forgery. Henry called the board into emergency session.
Before the meeting could begin, every camera feed from the pool terrace went dark.
The security director discovered that someone had remotely deleted the gala footage. The backup system had also been corrupted.
Logan smiled for the first time since falling into the water. “Then there is no proof anyone pushed her.”
Olivia felt the old helplessness return. Her father had found evidence, and powerful people had erased it. Now the same pattern was repeating in front of her.
Then a scholarship student named Maya Torres stepped forward from the group of guests still waiting in the ballroom.
“I have a video,” she said.
Maya had been livestreaming the gala for the foundation’s youth page. Security stopped the official broadcast shortly before the confrontation, but her personal phone continued recording from inside her purse.
The image was tilted and partially blocked by fabric. The audio, however, was clear.
Logan’s voice said, Give me the phone.
Olivia answered, No. The files are already copied.
There was a scuffle, a gasp, and the unmistakable sound of a body striking water. Then Logan said quietly, You should have learned from your father.
The room listened in silence.
Maya’s recording also captured something no one noticed during the chaos: Celeste calling Logan moments before Henry arrived.
Burn the room now, she said. He came home early.
Celeste lunged for the phone. Margaret pulled it away and ordered security to escort both mother and son to separate rooms.
Logan resisted. “You cannot imprison me in my own house.”
Henry looked at him with unbearable sadness. “This house stopped being yours the moment you used it to terrorize someone.”
As officers arrived, Logan lowered his voice. “If I fall, the entire foundation falls. Half the board signed those transfers.”
“That is not protection,” Olivia said. “That is a list of people who will fall with you.”
Logan stared at her, and the cruelty in his expression disappeared. What remained was fear.
Margaret secured Maya’s phone in an evidence bag. The livestream had already saved a copy to the cloud.
For the first time, the truth existed somewhere the Ashfords could not burn, delete, or lock behind a gate.
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But when investigators searched Celeste’s purse, they found a passport, cash, and a one-way ticket leaving at dawn.
The ticket was issued in Olivia Bennett’s name.
