Chapter 4 - Inside the Purse
Elena placed her purse on the table.
Its clasp had been broken during the search. Lipstick, tissues, her phone, and a small packet of crackers lay scattered across the marble floor.
Nolan examined the lining.
Nothing appeared unusual.
Ryan nodded toward the silver mirror inside the purse.
“It has a false back.”
Elena picked it up.
The mirror had belonged to her mother. Ryan had given it to her before they left for the wedding, claiming she had forgotten it at home.
She pressed the edge.
A thin brass key slid into her palm.
Margaret lunged toward it.
Nolan caught her wrist.
The guests recoiled as the commanding matriarch lost control for the first time.
“That belongs to my family,” Margaret said.
Elena closed her fingers around the key.
“My father created it.”
“Your father stole from us.”
“Henry Vale rescued your company twice.”
“He made us dependent on him.”
Celeste removed her veil.
The glamorous bride no longer looked smug. She looked desperate.
“Mother, the police will be here soon.”
Margaret turned on her.
“You were supposed to keep the ring.”
Tessa stared at Celeste.
“You took it from my bag.”
Celeste did not deny it.
Nolan ordered security to search her.
Celeste stepped backward.
“This is my wedding.”
“Then you should have chosen a safer place to commit a felony.”
A female officer approached.
Celeste reached beneath the folds of her gown and threw something toward the champagne fountain.
Elena saw a flash of diamonds.
Tessa moved first.
She caught the ring before it landed in the liquid.
A sharp metal point beneath the setting cut her palm.
The ring was not ordinary.
Nolan took it carefully.
Inside the band was a narrow data chip.
The brass key fit into a slot beneath the central diamond.
Ryan explained that the ring and key together could decrypt Henry Vale’s archive.
“Why hide a security device in Celeste’s engagement ring?” Elena asked.
Margaret answered.
“Because Henry designed it for me.”
Elena looked at her.
Margaret’s face changed as she realized she had revealed too much.
Nolan connected the ring, key, and flash drive to an isolated laptop.
Several encrypted folders appeared.
The first contained company ledgers.
The second contained medical research.
The third was labeled Elena.
A final folder carried a date from six days earlier.
Ryan leaned forward.
“That was not there when I copied the drive.”
Nolan opened it.
A video filled the screen.
Henry Vale sat in a concrete room under a single white light.
His hair had turned gray. His face was thin. A scar crossed his forehead.
But he was alive.
“Elena,” he said, looking directly into the camera. “They will come for you before your child is born.”
Elena gripped the table.
Henry continued.
“Do not sign anything. Do not trust the family surrounding Ryan.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Then Henry spoke one final sentence.
“And whatever happens, do not let Nolan Pierce take the archive.”
May you like
Every person in the ballroom turned toward the security chief.
Continue to the next part: The man who exposed the wedding conspiracy is named as a threat by Elena’s supposedly dead father.
