Chapter 6: The Files Behind the Locked Door
Dad ended the call with the bank.
“They have frozen the investment account.”
“How much is left?” I asked.
“Twenty-one thousand.”
Madison shook her head.
“Mom said Victor moved most of it into a property deal.”
Mrs.
Alvarez handed me the garment bag.
“Go to graduation.
Let the adults handle this tonight.”
“No,” I said.
“Those papers carry my name.”
Dad looked at the clock.
“The ceremony begins in ninety minutes.”
“And Victor may destroy everything in ten.”
Mr.
Patel held up his keys.
“My car is outside.”
Twenty minutes later, we stood in the lobby of Victor’s accounting office.
The receptionist blocked the hallway.
“Mr.
Lane is unavailable.”
Dad placed the transfer document on her desk.
“Tell him Daniel Carter is here about a forged signature.”
A door opened behind her.
Victor walked out with Celeste at his side.
“You’re making a serious mistake,” he said.
Celeste pointed at Madison.
“Come with me.”
Madison moved closer to me.
“I’m staying.”
“You ungrateful child.”
“You told me Emma’s fund belonged to us.
You told me Dad had agreed.”
“He did agree,” Victor said.
“His signature is right there.”
Dad faced him.
“You witnessed it after Celeste covered the top half of the page.”
“That is your story.”
A woman emerged from another office carrying a cardboard box.
Victor’s assistant, Nora, placed it on the floor.
“No,” she said.
“It’s mine too.”
Victor turned.
“You were dismissed this morning.
Leave.”
Nora removed a small black drive from her pocket.
“You told me to delete the Carter files.
I made a copy first.”
Celeste stepped toward her.
“How much do you want?”
Nora’s eyebrows rose.
“Excuse me?”
“Five thousand,” Celeste said.
“Give me the drive and sign a confidentiality agreement.”
Nora looked at me, still clutching the torn gown.
“My mother cleaned offices at night so I could finish school,” she said.
“You couldn’t pay me enough to help steal another girl’s future.”
Victor lunged for the drive.
Mr.
Patel moved in front of Nora.
“Cameras,” he said, pointing toward the ceiling.
“Three of them.”
Dad called the bank investigator and put her on speaker.
Nora inserted the drive into the receptionist’s computer.
Folders appeared across the screen—scanned signatures, account records, and photographs of unopened mail.
“What are those pictures?” I asked.
Madison leaned closer.
“Mom photographed each letter before hiding it.”
Nora opened a spreadsheet.
My education fund was listed beside several transfers to Victor’s property company.
Dad read the amounts aloud.
“Fifteen thousand.
Twenty thousand.
Twenty-six thousand.”
Victor reached behind the computer and pulled out the power cable.
The screen went black.
Celeste smiled.
“Now you have nothing.”
Nora held up the drive.
“That only turned off the monitor.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Victor’s receptionist stood and walked away from him.
“I pressed the emergency button when he tried to grab the drive,” she said.
Celeste seized my wrist.
“You can stop this,” she whispered.
“Tell them you signed the form.
I will pay your housing costs and replace your graduation money.”
I pulled free.
“With what?
The rest of my mother’s fund?”
“You will destroy Madison’s life if you continue.”
Madison stepped beside me.
“Stop using me as your shield.”
Two officers entered with the bank investigator behind them.
Nora handed over the drive while Dad showed them the transfer form.
The investigator examined my signature.
“Emma, did you authorize this?”
“No.”
Celeste pointed at Dad.
“He arranged everything.
I only followed my husband’s instructions.”
Dad went pale.
Then Nora opened one final file on her laptop.
A video showed Celeste sitting at Victor’s desk, tracing my signature again and again.
On the recording, Victor laughed.
“By the tenth copy,” he said, “even her father won’t know the difference.”
The investigator looked up.
Celeste stared at the screen.
May you like
Madison’s voice cut through the silence.
“Mom, tell them where you put Emma’s mother’s jewelry.”
