Chapter 5 - THE ROOM BEHIND THE BOOKCASE
Skylar opened the bathroom door wearing a robe.
Derek stood outside.
His face was composed, but his gaze moved past her toward the closed laptop.
“What were you doing?”
“Reading.”
“On an old computer?”
“The battery in my tablet died.”
Derek stepped into the bathroom.
Skylar moved aside.
He touched the laptop.
It was warm.
“What were you reading?”
“An old journal.”
“Whose?”
“My father’s.”
Derek looked at her for several seconds.
Then he smiled.
“I worry about you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He brushed a strand of wet hair from her face.
Skylar resisted the urge to step away.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “we will cancel the dinner.”
“No.”
“You need rest.”
“The dinner stays.”
“Skylar.”
“It is my father’s memorial. The entire board is attending. So are the trustees.”
Derek’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The trustees were representatives from the private foundation established by Elias. They had no operational power over Vale Meridian, but they held copies of certain estate records.
Skylar continued.
“Canceling would create rumors.”
“That is the last thing we need.”
“Then we agree.”
Derek kissed her forehead and left.
Skylar waited until she heard his footsteps descend the stairs.
She retrieved the flash drive.
The next morning, she visited the foundation’s attorney, Nadia Brooks.
Nadia had worked with Elias for twenty-three years. She was direct, cautious, and one of the few people who had never tried to tell Skylar what her father would have wanted.
Skylar showed her the forged deed.
Nadia read it twice.
“This is a convincing forgery,” she said.
“Could it be registered?”
“Not if challenged before filing. But the electronic certification appears valid.”
“Whose certification?”
Nadia turned the screen.
The signature belonged to Charles Vane, the family’s former estate lawyer.
“He retired last year,” Skylar said.
“He disappeared last year,” Nadia corrected. “His office closed without notice.”
“Did my father create Northstar?”
Nadia did not answer immediately.
“He discussed creating a continuity structure.”
“To protect the company?”
“To protect you.”
“From whom?”
“He never said.”
Skylar leaned forward.
“Nadia, Derek believes an emergency order gives him control if I am declared incompetent or dead.”
Nadia’s expression became still.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Elise Morgan.”
“You found Elise?”
“She found me.”
Nadia rose and locked her office door.
Then she returned to the desk.
“Your father created three versions of the continuity order,” she said. “Each version contained different instructions.”
“Why?”
“To identify a leak.”
Skylar felt a chill.
“Who received them?”
“I received one. Charles Vane received another. Your father kept the third.”
“What did your version say?”
“If you became unable to serve, voting control would transfer temporarily to an independent three-person council.”
“Who was on the council?”
“Me, Elise Morgan, and your father’s security chief, Victor Shaw.”
“Victor died in the plane crash.”
“So we were told.”
Skylar stared at her.
Nadia opened a locked cabinet and removed a sealed envelope.
“Your father gave me this nine days before the crash. He ordered me to open it only if someone tried to use the continuity structure against you.”
She broke the seal.
Inside was one page.
Nadia read it silently.
Her face changed.
“What does it say?”
She handed the letter to Skylar.
Skylar,
If this letter has been opened, someone has found one of the false continuity orders.
Do not trust the person claiming authority through Northstar.
Do not trust the medical record.
Do not trust the crash report.
The true order is inside the room where I taught you to count backward from seventeen.
Skylar read the final sentence again.
When she was a child, her father had taught her a breathing exercise during thunderstorms.
Count backward from seventeen.
He always practiced it with her inside his study at Vale House.
The hidden room.
Nadia said, “We should contact federal investigators.”
“Not yet.”
“Skylar, this is beyond a family dispute.”
“If we move now, Derek destroys the documents.”
“Then we obtain a warrant.”
“Based on files from a missing compliance officer and a letter from a dead man?”
Nadia could not answer.
Skylar folded the letter.
“I need one night.”
“That is reckless.”
“It is the only way to learn what they are planning.”
Nadia leaned across the desk.
“Then do not go alone.”
That evening, Skylar returned to Vale House and pretended to take the medication Dr. Bellamy had prescribed.
She watched Derek place the tablet in her palm.
She swallowed water and hid the pill beneath her tongue.
Twenty minutes later, she allowed her body to relax.
Derek stood beside the bed, watching her.
“Skylar?”
She did not respond.
He touched her shoulder.
She remained still.
Finally, he left.
Skylar waited until midnight.
Then she entered his office.
The key was still beneath the rug.
She opened the bookcase and unlocked the steel door.
Beyond it, a narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Skylar switched on her phone’s flashlight.
At the bottom stood another door.
This one was already open.
May you like
A light burned inside.
Someone was waiting for her.
