Chapter 22 - The Midnight Audit
The digital clock on the bedside table glowed a stark 3:14 AM. The house was dead silent, save for the faint, rhythmic hum of the nursery air purifier down the hall. I lay awake, staring up at the plaster ceiling as the adrenaline from the prison visit slowly faded into a gnawing, inexplicable unease. My phone, resting face down on the nightstand, buzzed with a short, sharp vibration.
I reached out, picking it up. The screen illuminated the dark room with a harsh blue light.
*From: Unknown Secure Proxy.*
*Text: Check the master ledger in the library safe. Evelyn didn't lose everything. She kept the anchor.*
My breath hitched. I glanced over at Adam, who was fast asleep beside me, his chest rising and falling in deep, exhausted rhythms. He had suffered enough over the past few weeks, torn between his toxic, narcissistic mother and the wife he loved. I didn't want to wake him, not yet. Slipping my feet into a pair of soft slippers, I wrapped a cashmere cardigan around my shoulders and crept out into the dimly lit hallway.
The mansion was enormous, its dark corners swallowing the pale moonlight that filtered through the arched stained-glass windows. I made my way down the grand staircase—the very spot where my life had nearly ended, where Evelyn’s cruel hands had shoved me into the void. A cold shiver crawled up my spine, but I forced my legs to move, descending into the cavernous ground floor.
The mahogany doors of the private library were unlocked, ajar by a fraction of an inch. That alone stopped me in my tracks. Adam always locked this room before going to bed.
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My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I pushed the heavy door open, stepping onto the plush Persian rug. The room was bathed in the amber glow of a single desk lamp left burning, and sitting in the leather wingback chair, turning the heavy pages of the Vance family confidential master ledger, was a figure in a dark trench coat.
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