Chapter 7 - The Night Travis Set the Trap
I stared at the witness line while my mother's name flashed across my phone.
DIANE MERCER.
My mother.
I answered.
“Mom?”
“Eliza, honey, are you coming to get the kids?”
Her voice sounded normal.
Too normal.
“Yes.”
“Everything okay?”
I looked at her signature.
“I'll tell you when I get there.”
The drive felt endless.
My mother opened the door before I knocked.
Maisie ran into my legs.
“Mommy!”
I lifted her.
For several seconds, I held her so tightly she complained.
“Can't breathe.”
“Sorry.”
Owen appeared behind her.
“Is Aunt Rebecca okay?”
“I think so.”
My mother watched me.
“What happened?”
“Kids, grab your things.”
They disappeared upstairs.
I held up my phone.
On the screen was the trust amendment.
My mother's face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
Not:
What is that?
Where did you get that?
My heart sank.
“You signed it.”
She sat down.
“Eliza.”
“You signed it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Travis brought it to me.”
“When?”
“When you were in the hospital.”
I felt physically ill.
“What did he tell you?”
“That it was for the children.”
“And you didn't call me?”
“You had just had surgery.”
“So?”
“He said it was routine.”
“Mom, you witnessed a document I didn't sign.”
Her face collapsed.
“No. He told me you had already signed the related paperwork.”
“Related paperwork?”
“He had papers.”
“What papers?”
“I don't know.”
I showed her the 2020 ownership amendment.
She covered her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
“Did you witness this?”
“No.”
“Did you see it?”
“I don't remember.”
“Think.”
She began crying.
“I thought I was helping you.”
I closed my eyes.
That sentence again.
Everyone had been helping me.
Travis helped by taking over Northgate.
Rebecca helped by hiding money.
My mother helped by signing documents.
And somehow every form of help had required me not to know.
“Mom, I need everything you remember.”
She told me.
Travis arrived at the hospital.
He said Northgate's attorneys needed paperwork.
He told Diane I was medicated and sleeping.
He asked her to witness a trust amendment for the children.
She signed.
Then he gave her another envelope to deliver to Victor.
She did.
“What was inside?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you see the front?”
She thought.
“There was a red sticker.”
“What did it say?”
“Something about authorization.”
My stomach dropped.
That could be the ownership amendment.
Or something worse.
I took the children home.
Then I called Rachel.
By morning, we had enough to seek formal preservation of records and escalate the suspected document issues through proper legal channels.
That changed everything.
Northgate received notice.
No records were to be destroyed.
No relevant electronic logs altered.
No financial documents removed.
Travis called me seventeen minutes later.
I didn't answer.
He called again.
Again.
Then texted:
WE NEED TO TALK.
I ignored it.
Another:
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE DOING.
I saved it.
Then:
YOU'RE GOING TO DESTROY THE COMPANY OUR CHILDREN DEPEND ON.
That one almost worked.
Old Travis knew exactly where to press.
The children.
Security.
Fear.
But Northgate wasn't their safety if it required my destruction.
At 7:00 p.m., I reported for work.
Rachel had advised against it.
I went anyway because the cleaning contractor had not fired me and because I refused to disappear exactly when Travis needed me to.
Claire met me near the elevators.
“Everything's locked down.”
“Good.”
“No. Not good.”
“What?”
“Travis scheduled an emergency board meeting tomorrow.”
“About?”
“You.”
Of course.
“What is he saying?”
“That confidential documents may have been accessed by an unauthorized employee.”
I laughed once.
“Let me guess. Night cleaner?”
Claire nodded.
“He's also claiming financial information was copied.”
“He knows?”
“He suspects.”
I looked toward Travis's office.
“Where is he?”
“Board dinner.”
“Victor?”
“Missing.”
“What?”
“He hasn't answered anyone since last night.”
Fear moved through me.
Then my radio crackled.
“Eliza, executive archive needs immediate cleanup.”
Claire and I looked at each other.
“No,” she said.
My supervisor repeated the request.
I pressed the button.
“Who requested it?”
“Mr. Fenwick.”
Claire whispered, “He's not even here.”
Exactly.
I called Rachel.
She told me not to enter alone.
So I didn't.
I asked my supervisor to accompany me.
That mattered.
We entered together.
The archive looked normal.
Until we reached the back wall.
A cabinet door stood open.
Inside were shredded papers.
My supervisor swore.
“I didn't touch that.”
“Neither did I.”
I photographed everything without approaching.
Then the lights went out.
Emergency lighting came on.
My supervisor cursed again.
My phone buzzed.
Security alert.
My badge had just been used.
LOCATION:
TRAVIS FENWICK — EXECUTIVE OFFICE.
I was standing in the archive.
My supervisor was standing beside me.
A witness.
Finally.
Someone had made a mistake.
A huge one.
We ran into the hallway.
I called Claire.
“Don't go into Travis's office.”
Too late.
“I just got here.”
“Claire, wait for me.”
I ran.
When we reached the office, the door was open.
Claire stood outside.
Inside, papers covered the floor.
A safe behind a wall panel stood open.
And sitting on Travis's desk was a black flash drive.
Beside it:
ELIZA FENWICK.
My supervisor whispered:
“What the hell?”
I didn't touch anything.
I called security.
Then Rachel.
Then police.
For the first time, Travis's trap had witnesses before he could explain it.
Security reviewed the logs.
My credential had opened the office.
But the hallway camera showed me entering the archive at the same time.
Two places.
One badge.
Impossible.
Unless the logs were manipulated.
Travis arrived twenty minutes later.
His expression when he saw police was almost worth twelve years of marriage.
Almost.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Then he saw me.
“You.”
I met his eyes.
“Me.”
His gaze moved toward the flash drive.
I watched calculation happen behind his face.
“Eliza, what did you do?”
There it was.
Right on schedule.
I almost admired the consistency.
A detective stopped him from entering.
“We'll need to speak with everyone.”
Travis looked at me.
For the first time, I saw something underneath his confidence.
Fear.
Then Claire's phone buzzed.
She read the message.
Her face drained.
“What?”
I asked.
She turned the screen toward me.
Unknown sender.
One sentence:
THE BOARD MEETING TOMORROW ISN'T ABOUT ELIZA.
Another message arrived.
IT'S ABOUT REMOVING TRAVIS.
May you like
Then a third:
AND SOMEONE ON THE BOARD HAS THE ORIGINAL TAPE.
