Chapter 5 - The Deleted Footage
Back at the Whitmore estate, the morning sun broke through the stormy clouds, casting long, pale beams across the manicured lawns. But inside the mansion, the atmosphere was thick with the suffocating tension of an impending execution.
Rosa Delgado sat at the dining room table in the east wing, spooning oatmeal into Lily’s bowl. The little girl was humming a nursery rhyme, completely oblivious to the fact that armed guards were stationed outside their double doors.
Rosa’s hands shook as she held her coffee mug. She had seen things she wasn't supposed to see, heard things that could get her killed, and now she was trapped inside a fortress waiting for a mafia king to decide her fate.
The heavy oak door swung open.
Nathaniel walked in. He looked tired—his overcoat was gone, his tie loosened, dark shadows lingering beneath his slate-gray eyes, but his posture remained unyielding.
“Rosa,” he said, stopping a few feet from the table.
Rosa stood up instantly, pulling Lily behind her skirt. “Mr. Whitmore. Please, if you want us to go, we’ll leave right now. We won't say a word to anyone about what happened, I swear—!”
“Sit down, Rosa,” Nathaniel interrupted, his voice surprisingly gentle, though it carried absolute authority.
Rosa hesitantly sank back into her chair.
Nathaniel pulled out a sleek silver tablet, placing it flat on the mahogany table between them. He tapped the screen twice.
A high-definition video feed sprang to life.
It was the grand staircase of the Whitmore estate, timestamped yesterday at 2:42 PM—the exact minute Margaret Whitmore fell.
Rosa watched, holding her breath.
On the screen, Margaret stood near the top landing, leaning on her cane. A moment later, Vivian Cole stepped out from the second-floor gallery. They appeared to be arguing; Margaret’s shoulders were rigid, her hand gesturing dismissively.
Then, Vivian looked around, checking both ends of the hallway. Seeing it was empty, she stepped directly behind the elderly woman.
With a cold, deliberate shove of both hands against Margaret’s back, Vivian sent her plunging down the flight of stairs.
As Margaret screamed and crashed downward, Vivian immediately dropped to her knees, clutching her face, screaming for help and staging her performance for the approaching staff.
Rosa covered her mouth with her hands, a choked sob escaping her throat. “Oh, my God...”
“The Zurich backup server,” Nathaniel said quietly, his voice dangerously level. “It didn't just save the video of Vivian pushing my mother. It also recorded the five minutes prior to the fall.”
Nathaniel tapped the screen again, fast-forwarding to a different angle.
The video showed Vivian standing at the second-floor hallway computer terminal, typing in the master security override code, downloading the deletion sequence onto a USB flash drive, and pocketing it before heading to the stairs.
“She thought she covered every track,” Nathaniel murmured, his fingers curling into a tight fist on the edge of the table. “She thought she could frame a working-class mother, manipulate my family, and walk away with a multi-billion-dollar merger.”
May you like
He looked up, meeting Rosa’s wide, terrified eyes.
“You and Lily are safe, Rosa,” Nathaniel promised, his voice carrying the weight of a sacred vow. “Nobody will ever touch you in this house again. Vivian is about to learn what happens when you make an enemy of a Whitmore.”
