Chapter 8 - The Broken Safe
Late that evening, while Ethan was away at an emergency board meeting called to address the foundation's missing funds, Claire walked purposefully down the basement corridor. She carried a heavy master key, her heels clicking rhythmically against the concrete floor until she reached the iron door of Catherine’s private archive room—a room Ethan had ordered locked after his first wife's passing.
Unlocking the heavy door, Claire stepped inside the cold, dusty room. Shelves lined the walls, filled with Catherine’s old journals, photo albums, and personal records. Claire went straight to the small wall safe hidden behind a framed landscape painting. She pulled back the frame, entering a six-digit code she had spent months trying to deduce from Ethan’s personal notes.
May you like
The safe clicked open with a heavy metallic thud. Claire reached inside, her heart pounding with anticipation, expecting to find the master ledger for Catherine’s private offshore accounts. But as her hand swept the velvet-lined interior, her fingers met nothing. The safe was completely empty, save for a single piece of fresh paper resting on the bottom shelf.
Claire pulled the paper out, her breath hitching in her throat. Written across the center of the page in neat, elegant cursive was a short message: Looking for something that isn't yours? Before she could process the note, the heavy iron door of the archive room slammed shut behind her, the lock clicking firmly into place from the outside.
