Chapter 2 - The Locked Executive Floor.
.The executive elevator opened with a soft chime, but Daniel did not step inside until he had checked the lobby behind them twice.
Charlotte noticed the gesture immediately.
Vivian remained below beneath the chandelier, surrounded by guests who were suddenly pretending not to stare at her.
Daniel pressed the private floor button with a key card that trembled slightly between his fingers.
Charlotte leaned against the mirrored wall and watched him in silence.
She had known Daniel since she was twelve, when her father first promoted him from front desk manager to general manager.
He had never been a nervous man.
Tonight, he looked like one.
“Start talking.”
Daniel exhaled.
“After your father died, the board created an interim operating committee.”
“I approved a temporary committee for ninety days.”
“The ninety days ended four months ago.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed.
Daniel stared at the numbers climbing above the door.
“They never dissolved it.”
The elevator stopped at the thirty-second floor.
Daniel swiped his card again.
The light flashed red.
He tried a second time.
Red again.
Charlotte stepped closer.
“This is my executive floor.”
“I know.”
Daniel pulled out his phone and called security administration.
No one answered.
He tried the internal extension.
Silence.
Charlotte reached into her handbag and removed an old brass master key engraved with the Vale crest.
Her father had given it to her on her twenty-first birthday and called it useless in the age of electronics.
She had kept it anyway.
At the far end of the elevator vestibule stood a narrow service door with an old mechanical lock.
Charlotte slid the key in.
The lock turned.
Daniel looked at her with something close to disbelief.
“My father never trusted a system that could be rewritten overnight.”
The service corridor led them behind the executive offices.
When Charlotte entered her father’s former suite, she stopped cold.
The room had been changed.
His photographs were gone.
His books had disappeared from the shelves.
Even the framed architectural sketch of the original Vale Grand had been removed.
In its place hung a glossy rendering of a new tower labeled NORTHSTAR LUXURY RESIDENCES.
Charlotte walked toward it slowly.
“What is Northstar doing on my wall?”
Daniel looked away.
“They have been negotiating with the committee.”
“For what?”
“A sale.”
Charlotte turned so quickly that Daniel took one step back.
“No one has authority to sell the Vale Grand without my signature.”
“That is what I thought.”
Daniel opened a drawer in the desk.
It was empty except for a white envelope with Charlotte’s name written across the front in her father’s handwriting.
Her throat tightened.
“When did this appear?”
“This morning.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“You just said no one expected me tonight.”
Daniel nodded uneasily.
“That is why I am worried.”
Charlotte opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
If you are reading this, someone has already moved before you were ready.
Do not sign anything.
Do not trust the committee.
Find the blue ledger before they do.
Charlotte read the last line twice.
Daniel’s phone vibrated in his pocket.
He checked the message and went pale.
Charlotte took the phone from his hand.
May you like
The message contained only six words.
SHE IS HERE. LOCK DOWN ARCHIVES.
