Chapter 6 - Gathering the Evidence
I spent the next twenty-four hours executing a plan that required absolute precision. Nolan remained inside the hidden room, compliant and terrified, realizing that his blind loyalty to Richard Vance had nearly destroyed everything he cared about.
While Lacey was at school, I used my laptop to quietly download all the hidden camera footage I had captured over the past two days—clips of Nolan moving through the house, opening the secret panel, and raiding the kitchen. I cross-referenced those video files with the text messages Nolan’s phone had been automatically sending me, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that his device was being operated remotely from Chicago while he remained physically stationed inside our Naperville residence.
Next, I drove to a local office supply store and purchased a secure, encrypted flash drive. I copied the architectural blueprints from the municipal building, the corporate remodeling permits filed by Vanguard Holdings, and an audio recording I had secretly made of my conversation with Richard Vance in his forty-second-floor office.
Vance had arrogant enough to spell out the entire corporate cover-up, assuming I was a powerless housewife who would fold under pressure. He didn't realize I had left my phone’s voice recorder running deep inside my blazer pocket the entire time.
By the following evening, everything was ready.
I sat at the kitchen island after putting Lacey to bed, staring at the blinking red light of the flash drive resting on the counter. My phone buzzed. It was a text message from an unknown number—Richard Vance.
"The federal audit closes tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM. Your husband will be free to exit the premises. Keep quiet, Grace, and your family remains intact."
I smiled faintly, typing a single word back:
May you like
Understood.
I wasn't going to let Vance sweep his corporate corruption under the rug while my husband took the blame as a corporate scapegoat. And I certainly wasn't going to let them control my family's destiny a moment longer.
