Chapter 7 - BEHIND THE WEST WALL
Naomi found Ethan at the entrance to the service corridor.
He had followed her from the ballroom after security informed him a court preservation order had arrived. He looked angry, embarrassed, and deeply confused.
“Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”
Naomi stopped.
“I did. Seven weeks ago.”
“You told me your mother worked here.”
“She did.”
“You didn’t tell me you were preparing a lawsuit.”
“Would you have kept me employed?”
Ethan did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Naomi showed him the maintenance request for the west storage room.
“Your fiancée assigned me to the ballroom while someone opened this.”
Ethan looked toward the staircase.
Then he called the head of security.
The door to the west corridor had been locked, but Ethan’s access card opened it. Behind the decorative wall, two contractors were loading archive boxes onto a service cart. Frederick stood nearby speaking into his phone.
He stopped when he saw Ethan.
“This is scheduled clearance,” Frederick said.
Ethan pointed to the boxes.
“Put them down.”
His father glanced at Naomi.
“You brought her here?”
“She has a court order.”
Frederick’s expression hardened.
“We’ll address it with counsel.”
“You can address it after the boxes stay where they are.”
For the first time Naomi saw Ethan use the authority everyone assumed he possessed.
He did not ask his father for an explanation first.
He secured the room.
Daniel arrived with a process server and a records specialist. The contractors documented which boxes they had moved. Security preserved corridor footage and access logs.
Inside the storage room were decades of property records, old architectural drawings, correspondence, and several metal filing cabinets.
Naomi tried her brass key on the nearest cabinet.
It did not fit.
Then Mrs. Bell entered.
She pointed toward a low drawer beneath the original worktable.
“Your mother kept her private papers there.”
The key turned.
Inside were three folders.
The first contained invoices Elena approved during the restoration.
The second contained a copy of the partnership agreement.
The third contained something Naomi had not expected.
A handwritten statement signed by Arthur Whitmore.
It acknowledged that Elena Reyes retained an ownership interest in Whitmore House and that Frederick had attempted to alter the company’s records during the dispute over missing funds.
Arthur wrote that he intended to correct the matter.
The statement was dated four days before his fatal stroke.
Naomi stared at the page.
Her mother had spent years believing Arthur betrayed her completely.
Now there was evidence he had tried, too late, to undo at least part of it.
Then Daniel found the financial ledger beneath the folders.
The allegedly missing renovation money had not vanished.
May you like
It had moved into another Whitmore-controlled entity.
Authorized by Frederick.
