Chapter 6 - THE SECRET INSIDE BUILDING 17
Madison barely slept that night.
At six in the morning, she called Rebecca.
“I want to go to San Antonio.”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Not without making arrangements.”
“Then make them.”
By nine, they were on the road with Kelsey and a private investigator named Daniel Price.
Building 17 stood inside an old industrial district.
The warehouse had been abandoned for years.
Its windows were boarded up, and weeds had pushed through cracks in the concrete.
A faded sign above the entrance displayed the name of the original Cross Development Company.
Rebecca used the brass key from Eleanor's box to open a small office door at the rear.
Inside was a narrow staircase leading to a storage room.
The room contained filing cabinets, old photographs, and several sealed boxes.
Daniel began examining the cabinets.
Madison found a photograph of two men standing outside the warehouse.
One was Everett's grandfather.
The other was her grandmother's husband.
Behind the photograph was a handwritten note.
Business is built on trust. Without it, everything becomes theft.
Madison turned the photograph over again.
A date had been written beneath the men's names.
Twenty-eight years earlier.
Daniel called from the other side of the room.
“Madison. You need to see this.”
He had found a locked metal cabinet.
The brass key opened it.
Inside were several financial ledgers and a small digital recorder.
Rebecca examined the first ledger.
Her expression changed.
“These records show money being transferred out of the Cross family company into private accounts.”
“Whose accounts?”
“Several people. But one account belongs to Joanne.”
Kelsey shook her head.
“So she has been stealing from her own family?”
Rebecca continued reading.
“Not just her family. The company had investors. Some of these transfers were unauthorized.”
Madison found another document.
It was a letter from Everett's father, written shortly before his death.
The first paragraph read:
Eleanor, I believe Richard and Joanne have discovered what I found. If anything happens to me, make sure the original records reach someone outside the family.
Madison felt her pulse quicken.
She read the letter aloud.
Everett is young. He doesn't understand what his mother is doing. I fear she will eventually use him to complete what she started.
Rebecca looked up.
“That's important.”
The next page contained a list of account numbers and a name.
Thomas Bellamy.
The same private lender who had appeared in the emails Camille provided.
Madison felt sick.
Then Daniel discovered the digital recorder.
It contained several audio files.
The first was dated three days before Everett's father's death.
A man's voice spoke.
“I know about the transfers, Joanne. You can't keep doing this.”
A woman answered.
“You have no idea what I've sacrificed for this family.”
“It's not your money.”
“It will be when I'm finished.”
The recording ended.
The second file was longer.
A heated conversation between Everett's father and another man.
Then a sentence made Madison stop breathing.
“If you keep threatening to expose us, you'll destroy your son.”
The speaker was Joanne.
Rebecca immediately made a copy.
“This needs to go to investigators.”
But before they could leave, a car pulled into the warehouse parking lot.
Daniel looked through the broken blinds.
“Two men.”
Kelsey stepped back.
“Who are they?”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“I don't know.”
A loud knock struck the office door.
Then another.
“Mr. Cross asked us to collect some property.”
Madison's blood ran cold.
Everett.
He had found them.
Daniel quietly instructed everyone to move toward the rear exit.
But the warehouse door opened before they could reach it.
Two men entered.
One was a security contractor Madison recognized from Everett's company.
The other carried a folder.
“Ms. Hale,” he said.
“Mr. Cross would like those documents returned.”
Madison held the ledger against her chest.
“They don't belong to him.”
The man smiled.
“That's not how he sees it.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You need to leave.”
The second man looked at him.
“Are you sure you want to make this difficult?”
Before anyone could answer, sirens sounded outside.
The men turned.
Police officers entered the building moments later.
Rebecca had contacted authorities before the trip and shared the warehouse's location.
The men were detained for questioning.
But as Madison walked toward the police car, she noticed something lying on the ground.
A small photograph.
It showed Everett as a child standing beside his father.
On the back was a handwritten message.
He knows what happened. Ask him why he never told you.
Madison looked at the photograph.
For the first time, she wondered whether Everett had been lying to her about more than money.
May you like
Perhaps he had been living with a secret long before they met.
And perhaps his father's death was the reason he had become the man who could betray anyone to protect his family.
