Chapter 4 - The Door at Midnight
Grant didn't move.
Neither did I.
The knocking came again.
Three times.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Grant whispered, “Don't open it.”
I looked at him.
“You know who it is.”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
He stared at the door.
The handle moved.
My heart jumped.
Then a voice came from the hallway.
“Eleanor.”
I knew that voice.
Daniel.
I opened the door.
He stood there holding a red folder.
His face was grim.
“I found something.”
Grant backed away.
“What?”
Daniel entered.
He looked at Grant.
“Your name appears in the original security report from the night Elias Vale died.”
Grant closed his eyes.
I took the folder.
Inside was a photocopy of a security log.
11:42 p.m.
Authorized entry.
Grant Rowan.
11:57 p.m.
Vault opened.
12:14 a.m.
Emergency response.
I stared at the page.
“Why were you there?”
Grant swallowed.
“I didn't kill him.”
“I didn't ask that.”
“I went because your grandfather called me.”
“Why?”
“He wanted to warn me.”
“About what?”
Grant looked at Daniel.
Daniel said nothing.
Grant finally spoke.
“He knew someone was stealing from the family.”
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
“Then why did you open the vault?”
Grant's silence answered before his words did.
“I was looking for evidence.”
I stared at him.
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I was protecting you.”
“By divorcing me?”
His face crumpled.
“That came later.”
“After you met Madison.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
Daniel opened the folder.
“There is more.”
He handed me a handwritten note.
I recognized my grandfather's handwriting immediately.
If Eleanor ever learns the truth, she must know that the person closest to her may not be the enemy.
I read it twice.
Then a second line.
Trust the person who stayed when she had nothing to offer.
My hands trembled.
Grant looked at me.
“I stayed.”
I slowly shook my head.
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I did.”
“You left.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You left.”
His eyes filled.
For one second, I remembered the man in Queens.
The man who had carried me home when I was sick.
Then I remembered the divorce papers.
Madison.
The fifteen thousand dollars.
I stepped away.
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“The bank's internal server was accessed.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“By whom?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“The credentials belonged to you.”
I stared at him.
“That is impossible.”
He shook his head.
“Someone is using your identity.”
Grant suddenly looked terrified.
“Then they're going after the trust.”
I turned toward him.
“Why?”
He didn't answer.
Daniel did.
“Because whoever has access to the trust records can expose every hidden transaction.”
I looked at the red folder.
“Then this was never about my divorce.”
“No,” Daniel said.
“It was about the money.”
Grant shook his head.
“Not just the money.”
I looked at him.
“What else?”
Before he could answer, every light in the apartment went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Daniel reached for his phone.
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Someone was walking toward the apartment.
Then my phone lit up.
One new message.
You trusted the wrong man.
May you like
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
And someone whispered my real name through the darkness—
