Chapter 5 - Trapped in the Archives
There was no time to make it down the front stairs.
"Through the side archive room," Lucas whispered, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward a narrow wooden door hidden behind a bookshelf.
We slipped inside just as Elaine and her high-priced defense attorney stepped into the main office. The archive room was dark, filled with floor-to-ceiling rows of dusty filing cabinets containing decades of hardware receipts and employee records.
Through the slatted wooden door, we could hear every word they said.
"Where is the master ledger?" Vance Sterling’s voice was cool, smooth, and laced with corporate arrogance. "If the district attorney gets their hands on the Apex Solutions files before we file the injunction, Warren is looking at twenty years in federal prison."
"It was right here in the safe!" Elaine shrieked, her voice cracking with panic. "Someone's been in here! Look—Grandma’s portrait is crooked!"
"Calm down, Mrs. Holloway," Sterling said smoothly. "We secure an emergency injunction claiming family harassment, we lock down the building under civil asset protection, and we cut off your stepdaughter's access to any remaining corporate funds before she realizes what's happening."
"She already knows," a third voice echoed from the doorway.
My blood ran cold.
It was Tessa.
She must have followed her mother from the precinct. "Mom, Sterling... you don't understand. When Maya found Maisie in the dumpster, she took my phone. She saw the group chat messages where you told me to help drug the baby."
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Silence descended upon the main office. For a terrifying moment, nobody moved.
Then Elaine spoke, and her voice sounded entirely devoid of human warmth. "Then Tessa... it looks like you’ll be sharing a prison cell with your sister."
