Chapter 4 - Someone Inside the House.
Adrian did not call the chairman immediately.
He enlarged the photograph first.
The image showed him holding Nora's letter while Lydia stood two feet away.
The angle came from the upper corner of the pantry.
Marcus followed Adrian's gaze toward a decorative air vent near the ceiling.
"That isn't one of my cameras," he said.
Adrian's stomach tightened.
Marcus pulled a chair beneath the vent and removed the cover.
Behind it sat a tiny wireless camera no larger than a coin.
A green light blinked once before Marcus disconnected it.
Lydia covered her mouth.
"How long has that been there?"
"We won't know until I examine it," Marcus said.
Adrian looked around his own house as though it had become unfamiliar.
He had spent millions building systems designed to keep danger outside.
It had never occurred to him that the person compromising the house might already have a key.
His phone rang again.
The chairman's name flashed across the screen.
This time Adrian answered.
"Daniel."
"Tell me the photograph I'm looking at isn't what it appears to be."
Daniel Cross had chaired Vale Holdings for eleven years and had seen Adrian through hostile negotiations, lawsuits, and a public merger.
He rarely sounded rattled.
Tonight he sounded furious.
"What exactly does it appear to be?" Adrian asked.
"A message was sent to three board members claiming you ended your engagement because you're involved with an employee."
Lydia heard enough to understand.
Her face went pale again.
Adrian turned away from her instinctively, giving her privacy from an accusation that had already invaded it.
"It's false."
"I assumed that."
Daniel lowered his voice.
"But the image arrived from an anonymous account along with claims that the employee has been stealing from your residence."
Adrian closed his eyes for one second.
Vanessa was moving quickly.
Too quickly for someone acting from spontaneous heartbreak.
"Do not respond to the sender," Adrian said.
"Forward everything to Marcus."
"Already done."
Daniel paused.
"Adrian, there is one more thing."
"What?"
"The sender attached copies of household expense reports with Lydia Hart's initials."
Lydia looked at Adrian.
He remembered what she had said about invoices she never signed.
"Those documents may be forged."
"Then prove it before the morning."
Daniel's tone softened.
"The annual education fund gala is in two days."
"If this becomes public before then, the foundation will be dragged into it."
Adrian glanced at the spreadsheet showing money moving through his mother's charity.
The irony was unbearable.
"The foundation is already involved."
Daniel went silent.
Adrian explained only the essentials.
When he finished, Daniel sounded less angry and more alarmed.
"Do not touch any account records yourself."
"I won't."
"Get an independent audit team tonight."
"I will."
They ended the call.
Lydia stood beside the pantry door with her arms folded tightly around herself.
"They're saying I stole from you?"
"Yes."
Adrian did not soften the truth.
"But saying it does not make it true."
"People online won't care about that."
"This is not online yet."
Marcus looked down at his tablet.
His expression changed.
"It is now."
He turned the screen around.
A celebrity gossip account had posted the photograph from the pantry with a sensational caption suggesting Adrian's engagement had ended over a secret relationship with a household employee.
There was no evidence, only implication.
That did not matter.
Thousands of comments were already appearing.
Lydia stepped back as if the screen had physically struck her.
"My mother follows that account."
Adrian felt responsible in a way no legal contract could define.
"Marcus, get Lydia home privately."
"I can take the train," Lydia said.
"Not tonight."
"I don't want anyone thinking I'm receiving favors."
Adrian looked at her firmly.
"Someone placed a hidden camera in this house and photographed you without your knowledge."
"This is about safety, not appearances."
She nodded reluctantly.
Before leaving, Lydia reached into her cardigan pocket again.
"There is something else."
She handed Adrian a folded receipt.
"I found this in the laundry three weeks ago."
The receipt came from an electronics store.
The purchase was for six miniature wireless cameras.
The buyer's name had been partially smudged.
But the last name remained visible.
HALE.
Adrian stared at it.
"Vanessa?"
Lydia shook her head.
"The first name started with G."
Adrian knew only one person in Vanessa's family whose first name began with G.
Grant Hale.
Her older brother.
Grant had been inside the house repeatedly during the last month, supposedly helping plan the wedding.
Marcus took the receipt.
"I'll check every room before sunrise."
Adrian nodded.
Lydia left with another security officer.
Once she was gone, Adrian returned to Nora's flash drive.
He searched for Grant's name.
A folder appeared immediately.
GRANT - NORTHSTAR.
Inside was a corporate registration document.
Northstar Events LLC was registered to a holding company.
That holding company belonged to Grant Hale.
Adrian's phone vibrated once more.
This time Vanessa was calling.
He almost ignored it.
Then he answered.
"What do you want?"
Her voice was calm now.
Too calm.
"I want to save you from making the biggest mistake of your life."
Adrian looked at Grant's name on the screen.
"You have ten seconds."
Vanessa laughed softly.
"Ask Lydia where she got the money for her mother's new apartment."
The call ended.
Adrian stared at the phone.
He had never known Lydia's mother had moved.
Marcus was already searching the financial files.
A moment later he stopped.
"Adrian."
"What?"
May you like
Marcus turned the laptop around.
Three weeks earlier, twenty-five thousand dollars had been transferred from Northstar Events to an account bearing Lydia Hart's name.
