Chapter 3: The Secret Vault
Chapter 3: The Secret Vault
Federal investigators spent the next several hours searching Blackthorn Manor.
Nathan insisted there was nothing left to find.
He was wrong.
One investigator discovered an elevator hidden behind the wine cellar.
The elevator required biometric authorization.
Richard smiled.
"I believe my daughter recorded Nathan's fingerprint months ago."
She had.
The vault doors slowly opened.
Inside were millions of dollars in cash.
Stacks of forged contracts.
Hard drives.
Luxury watches.
Gold bars.
And shelves filled with documents connecting dozens of politicians and executives to Nathan's illegal operations.
Then investigators found something else.
A locked steel case.
Inside were photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Every picture showed me.
Bruised.
Crying.
Sleeping.
Recovering in hospitals.
Nathan had secretly documented years of abuse.
Celeste covered her mouth.
"You kept those?"
Nathan couldn't answer.
Even he realized how monstrous it looked.
One detective quietly said,
"This isn't just financial crime anymore."
May you like
"This is evidence of systematic domestic abuse."
The room became painfully silent.
