Chapter 5 - the message in the bouquet
Ethan called hotel security.
Celeste arrived before the security director did.
“There is no missing employee,” she said. “Lila resigned this morning.”
“Her belongings are still in Serena’s suite,” Ethan replied.
“She left in a hurry.”
“Then why is her identification card inside a hidden room?”
Celeste looked at the card.
“I cannot explain the careless decisions of junior staff.”
Margaret picked up the broken rose.
A strip of paper had been wrapped tightly beneath the ribbon around its stem.
She unfolded it.
Three numbers had been written in blue ink.
604.
Ethan looked at the nearest shelf.
The library books were arranged using a numbered archive system.
He found section six, shelf zero, book four.
The volume was a history of the Whitmore family.
Inside the cover was a small memory card.
Celeste stepped forward.
“That belongs to the hotel.”
Ethan closed his hand around it.
“Then call the police and report me.”
Celeste’s confidence faltered.
Ethan turned to the security director.
“Lock this room. No one enters without my permission.”
Celeste laughed.
“This is my family’s hotel.”
Ethan looked at the director.
“Who owns the mortgage on this building?”
The director hesitated.
“Vale Capital.”
“Then decide whose instruction you prefer to follow.”
Celeste’s face tightened.
Margaret and Ethan took the memory card to Adrian’s office.
It contained several photographs and one audio file.
The photographs showed Serena and Oliver inside Margaret’s house on the afternoon Serena claimed she had visited alone.
In one image, Oliver stood near the locked cabinet.
In another, Serena held Richard’s letters.
The audio file was only eleven seconds long.
Serena’s voice said, “Once Margaret signs, Ethan will never know the difference.”
Oliver answered, “She won’t sign.”
Celeste’s voice followed.
“Then we make the world believe she cannot be trusted.”
The recording ended.
Ethan leaned back in his chair.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Margaret watched the life he had imagined with Serena collapse behind his eyes.
Adrian placed both hands on the desk.
“This is enough to postpone the wedding.”
“Postpone?” Ethan asked.
“It is enough to begin an investigation. But we still don’t know what they plan to gain.”
“The trust shares,” Margaret said.
Adrian shook his head.
“The proxy authority is valuable, but only while Ethan is alive and married. Serena would not own the shares.”
“Could she vote with them?”
“If the certificate were accepted, yes.”
“What vote is coming?”
Adrian turned toward his computer.
“The annual Vale board meeting is scheduled for the morning after the wedding.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“What is on the agenda?”
Adrian opened the confidential board packet.
Most items were ordinary.
Then he found a proposal that had been added two days earlier.
The proposal recommended selling Vale Capital’s controlling interest in the Whitmore Grand Hotel to an unnamed international investment company.
The sale price was far below market value.
“Who submitted this?” Ethan asked.
Adrian read the digital authorization.
“It says you did.”
“I have never seen it.”
Margaret looked at the transaction date.
The sale would become final twenty-four hours after the wedding.
Serena did not simply want access to Ethan’s family trust.
Her family intended to use Ethan’s name to erase their debt and sell the hotel to someone waiting in the shadows.
Adrian opened the buyer information.
The company was registered in a jurisdiction that concealed ownership.
Its name was Thornbridge Holdings.
Margaret stared at the screen.
“Thornbridge.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You know it?”
“Richard used that word.”
“When?”
“The night before he disappeared.”
Margaret’s voice trembled.
“He said someone inside the company was building a bridge made of thorns. He told me that if anything happened to him, I should never trust the person who came carrying white roses.”
At that moment, Adrian’s receptionist entered.
“A package was delivered for Mrs. Vale.”
Margaret opened the box.
Inside lay the missing letters from Richard.
May you like
Every envelope had been opened.
On top of them rested a bouquet of white roses.
