Chapter 4 - The Penthouse Vault
Charlotte didn't go far.
She waited in the back alley, wiping the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.
She checked her phone.
A green checkmark flashed on the screen.
The download was complete.
Now, she just needed the physical documents.
She knew this hotel better than the architect who designed it.
When she was a child, her mother used to play hide-and-seek with her in the secret service corridors.
Charlotte slipped through an unmarked steel door near the loading dock.
She bypassed the biometric scanners by short-circuiting the old backup panel—a flaw she remembered her mother complaining about years ago.
She climbed eighty flights of stairs in the dark, her muscles burning, her breath ragged.
She reached the top floor. The owner's penthouse.
Uncle Richard’s current residence.
The hallway was lined with security cameras, but Charlotte knew the blind spots.
She pressed herself against the expensive silk wallpaper, moving like a ghost.
She reached the master bedroom.
Behind the massive Renaissance painting was the hidden wall safe.
Charlotte quickly went to work.
She didn't need a code. She had her mother's master override key, a tiny digital chip she had hidden in the lining of her shoe for six months.
She pressed the chip to the scanner.
Click.
The heavy steel door swung open.
Charlotte’s heart hammered against her ribs.
Inside, sitting on a velvet cushion, was a thick manila folder.
She pulled it out and opened it.
There it was.
The original will, signed in her mother's elegant handwriting, leaving 100% of the Solmere Empire to Charlotte Vale.
Underneath it were the bank transfers.
Millions of dollars funneled from Solmere’s accounts into Richard's private offshore accounts just days before the car crash.
And at the very bottom... a mechanic's report.
Proof that the brakes on her mother's car had been deliberately severed.
Tears pricked Charlotte’s eyes, but she blinked them away fiercely.
Now was not the time for tears.
Now was the time for war.
She took the documents and shoved them into her backpack.
As she turned to leave, her eyes caught something else in the massive walk-in closet.
A garment bag, preserved in plastic.
It was her mother’s dress.
The legendary "Midnight Diamond" gown, custom-made in Paris, adorned with real crushed sapphires.
Her mother was supposed to wear it to the annual Solmere Gala—which, ironically, was happening tonight.
Charlotte stared at the dress.
A dark, beautiful plan formed in her mind.
Tonight, Uncle Richard and Vivian were throwing the gala to officially announce the sale of the Solmere Empire.
They were going to sell her legacy to the highest bidder.
May you like
Charlotte unzipped the garment bag.
She wasn't going to hide anymore.
