Chapter 4 - THE HIDDEN VAULT
Margaret left the room in a silent fury, but Emily knew her time was running out. If Margaret was willing to bribe her, Arthur Sterling would soon resort to much more dangerous tactics.
That evening, while Daniel was away at an emergency board meeting called to manage the fallout of the engagement scandal, Emily made her move.
She knew the layout of the Vance Mansion better than anyone—not just because she had cleaned every corner of it for six months, but because this mansion had originally belonged to her grandfather before her father lost it.
Armed with a small flashlight and a rusty brass key her mother had left her, Emily slipped down into the old wine cellar beneath the eastern wing. The air was damp, smelling of old oak and damp earth.
She walked past rows of dusty wine bottles until she reached the brick wall at the far end of the cellar. According to her father’s journal, the original architects of the estate had built a hidden alcove behind the wine racks to store valuable documents during the war.
Emily pushed against the third iron sconce on the wall. With a heavy, scraping sound, a section of the brickwork shifted inward, revealing a small, dark compartment.
Heart pounding, Emily reached inside. Her fingers brushed against cool metal. She pulled out a faded leather binder bound with an iron latch.
"The original ledgers..." she breathed.
She flipped the binder open. Page after page contained meticulous financial records from fifteen years ago. It detailed every shell company Arthur Sterling had used to siphon funds out of Reed & Sterling Logistics, alongside fake invoices bearing her father's forged signature. But right at the back of the book, attached to the final page, was something even more devastating: a signed agreement between Arthur Sterling and a younger Margaret Vance.
Emily gasped, covering her mouth.
Margaret hadn't just been a bystander in her father's downfall. She had helped Arthur Sterling cover up the fraud in exchange for a fifty-percent discount on the estate's mortgage when the Reed family went bankrupt.
"I see you found what you were looking for," a stern voice echoed from the cellar entrance.
Emily spun around, clutching the binder to her chest.
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Standing at the top of the stone stairs, framed by the dim amber light of the corridor, was Margaret Vance. Beside her stood two heavy-set men in dark suits.
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