Chapter 4 - The Stolen File and the Firing Notice
Armed with Lily’s harrowing disclosures, Grace knew she had to move quickly, but she couldn't fight a billionaire and a ruthless criminal duo with mere accusations. She needed irrefutable physical proof. On a suffocatingly humid Thursday evening, while Sabrina and Derek attended a high-profile charity gala downtown and Ethan was locked in an international conference call in his study, Grace executed a calculated risk. She slipped into Derek’s private ground-floor office, picking the cheap brass lock with a repurposed bobby pin—a skill she had learned from an old roommate in college. The office smelled of expensive cigar smoke and floor wax. Inside the bottom drawer of Derek’s heavy oak desk, hidden beneath a false wooden panel, Grace found what she was looking for: a thick manila folder labeled Caldwell-Vance Holdings: Asset Re-allocation & Medical Protocols. Inside were confidential medical records, forged psychiatric evaluations declaring Lily permanently incompetent, and prescription logs for heavy-duty pediatric sedatives that required a doctor's signature—a signature that had been expertly forged using Ethan’s medical power of attorney. Most damning of all was a printed pharmacy receipt showing massive bulk purchases of the sedative, shipped directly to a PO box registered under Derek’s name. Grace pulled out her cracked smartphone, snapping crystal-clear, high-resolution photographs of every single document, making sure the date stamps and serial numbers were fully visible. Just as she slipped the final paper back into the folder, the harsh click of the office door handle turning echoed in the quiet room. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Derek had returned early from the gala due to a migraine. Thinking fast, Grace slipped silently through the floor-to-ceiling velvet drapes, holding her breath as Derek walked in, tossed his suit jacket onto the leather couch, and muttered curses under his breath. He checked the desk drawer, locked it, and walked out without noticing the slight displacement of the files. Grace escaped into the servants' quarters, the digital evidence burning a hole in her pocket. She planned to upload the files to a secure cloud server at dawn and march straight to Ethan’s office to lay bare the entire conspiracy. But Sabrina was entirely one step ahead. At precisely 2:00 PM the following afternoon, Sabrina intercepted Grace in the grand foyer, flanked by two towering private security guards. "You're fired, you nosey little peasant," Sabrina sneered, tossing a check for two weeks' wages onto the marble floor. "Pack your cheap bags and get off this property before I have Derek charge you with corporate espionage and grand theft." Grace didn't flinch. She picked up the check, looked Sabrina dead in the eye with an icy, unshakable calmness, and whispered, "Enjoy your final weeks at the top, Sabrina. The fall is going to be fatal."
