Chapter 5
The security office on the subterranean level was a windowless room lined with banks of closed-circuit monitors displaying every hallway, door, and alcove of the sprawling estate. Julian stood squarely in the center of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, his muscular frame radiating an intense, suppressed fury. Facing him across a metal desk was Director Vance, head of estate security and a distant cousin of Arthur who answered only to the high council.
The heavy door banged open, and two burly guards marched Elena into the room. Her pink maid uniform was wrinkled, and her eyes darted frantically around the surveillance screens before landing on Julian.
“Mr. Vance, step aside,” Director Vance said smoothly, tapping a thick manila folder against the desk. “This is an internal personnel matter involving stolen property. A vintage diamond brooch valued at seventy-five thousand dollars was reported missing from the master suite vanity. Our search of the domestic quarters recovered the item inside this young lady’s personal locker.”
Julian didn't look at the folder. He kept his gaze locked on the security director. “Elena hasn't set foot in the master suite tonight. Her duties were strictly confined to the grand dining hall and the west parlor. Furthermore, the master suite is biometric-locked. Only Arthur, Camilla, and I have authorization codes to enter after midnight.”
A smirk crossed the director's face. “Perhaps so, Mr. Vance. But our system logs show that a secondary maintenance override keycard was used at 1:15 AM. And that keycard is assigned exclusively to junior domestic staff.”
“A keycard that can be cloned in under thirty seconds by any technician with access to the master terminal,” Julian countered, stepping forward until he towered over the desk. “Open the raw server logs, Director. Not the edited security reports you printed out ten minutes ago, but the uncompressed event stream from the main mainframe.”
The director’s smile faltered slightly, his eyes flickering toward the bank of monitors where a red warning light had begun to blink intermittently. “I assure you, sir, our protocols are entirely standard and above reproach. We are simply following the directives of the estate trustees.”
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“The trustees don't run this house anymore,” Julian said, his voice dropping an octave, carrying a chilling finality. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black USB drive, dropping it onto the metal desk with a sharp metallic clatter. “That drive contains the mirrored backup of every financial transaction, security override, and covert communication routed through this room for the past two years. If you touch Elena, or if you attempt to fabricate another charge against any member of the staff, I will upload that data directly to the federal cybercrime division before you can blink.”
Elena stared at Julian, the sheer magnitude of his defiance washing away her fear. She realized then that Julian wasn't just risking his inheritance; he was burning his entire world to the ground to ensure that justice finally pierced the stone walls of Blacktie Estates.
