Chapter 11 - The Original DocumentsThe footsteps stopped outside the door.
Adrian motioned for everyone to stay silent.
The handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
A voice said, “Mr. Bell is waiting outside.”
My father looked at me.
“That isn't Mr. Bell.”
Emery checked the rear exit.
The hallway light flickered.
Then the fire alarm exploded into sound.
People shouted outside.
Smoke began pouring beneath the door.
“Fire,” Adrian shouted.
We moved.
The alarm wasn't connected to the building's main system.
Someone had triggered it manually.
We escaped through the rear stairwell.
Outside, a black SUV sped away.
Its license plate matched the vehicle from my father's file.
I stared after it.
“We have to get the originals.”
Adrian nodded.
“Switzerland?”
“Yes.”
Three days later, we were inside a private bank office.
The account existed.
The documents existed.
And the contents were devastating.
Original patent filings.
Transfer agreements.
Wire records.
Copies of Mother's signatures.
Copies of Marcel's instructions.
And one file that made everyone go silent.
It was titled:
PROJECT ORCHID
Inside was a strategy document.
Its goal was simple.
Remove me from Apex.
Install Solange in an executive role.
Transfer ownership to a Meridian affiliate.
Then merge the two companies.
The plan had been scheduled for completion after Grandma's death.
The target date was six weeks away.
I looked at the document.
“That's now.”
Adrian nodded.
“We're inside their timeline.”
Then I noticed something.
Solange's name appeared.
But not as an executive.
As a protected beneficiary.
“What does this mean?”
Adrian read the page.
“She was never supposed to own Apex.”
“Then why was she involved?”
He kept reading.
“She was supposed to receive a payout.”
“How much?”
He showed me.
Fourteen million dollars.
My sister had been promised fourteen million dollars to help destroy the company I built.
I closed my eyes.
When we returned home, Solange was waiting.
She was sitting on the steps outside my penthouse.
“Please,” she said.
I stopped.
“I know.”
She looked at me.
“Know what?”
“Everything.”
Her face collapsed.
“I didn't know they'd hurt Dad.”
“You helped them.”
“I was trying to survive.”
“You were promised fourteen million dollars.”
She started crying.
“I never signed anything.”
“No.”
I handed her a copy.
“You signed this.”
She stared.
“My signature?”
“You signed a preliminary agreement.”
She shook her head.
“I don't remember.”
Adrian studied the document.
Then said something that changed everything again.
“This signature may also be forged.”
Solange froze.
“Then who signed it?”
We checked the metadata.
The document had been created on Mother's computer.
But the signature was digital.
Not handwritten.
Mother had created the document herself.
And beside the signature was a timestamp.
The same minute my grandmother's death certificate had been issued.
I looked at Solange.
“You were the distraction.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“They needed everyone watching you.”
“Why?”
“So nobody would notice what they were doing to Apex.”
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from Mother.
Come home alone.
A second message followed.
Your father is already there.
I looked at my father's residence location.
He hadn't left.
Then I understood.
Mother wasn't inviting me home.
May you like
She was baiting me.
And she had just admitted she knew exactly where my father was.
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