Part 3: The Secret Recordings
No one spoke.
Amber's words hung in the air like a storm cloud.
"He recorded everything."
Victoria tightened her grip on the phone.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean everything," Amber whispered. "His meetings... phone calls... conversations in the house. He has cameras and hidden microphones in places you would never think to look."
Rebecca and Eleanor exchanged worried glances.
Victoria's pulse quickened.
"How do you know this?"
"I wasn't supposed to."
Amber sounded as though she was trying not to cry.
"I thought Marcus trusted me."
"He gave me access to his home office last week while he was traveling."
"I accidentally knocked over a framed photograph."
Victoria frowned.
"And?"
"There was a hidden safe behind it."
Rebecca immediately reached for a notepad.
"What was inside?"
Amber swallowed.
"Hard drives."
"Memory cards."
"Paper files."
"And a recorder."
Victoria leaned forward.
"You listened to it?"
"Only for a few minutes."
"What did you hear?"
"My own voice."
The room fell silent.
Amber continued.
"I didn't even know he'd been recording me."
Rebecca spoke loudly enough for Amber to hear.
"Amber, this is Rebecca Lawson."
"I'm a forensic accountant working with Victoria."
"I need you to answer carefully."
"Do you still have access to those recordings?"
"I copied some of them."
Victoria's heart skipped.
"You made copies?"
"Yes."
"I was scared."
"I didn't know what to do."
Eleanor finally spoke.
"Amber..."
"Why are you helping us?"
For several seconds, there was only quiet breathing on the other end.
Finally Amber answered.
"Because I finally realized I wasn't special."
Victoria frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"He told me I was different."
"That he loved me."
"That you never understood him."
Her voice cracked.
"Then yesterday..."
"I found videos of two women before me."
Neither Rebecca nor Eleanor moved.
Amber continued.
"They were told exactly the same things."
Victoria closed her eyes.
Marcus had always been persuasive.
Confident.
Charming.
She had spent years believing his public image reflected who he really was.
Now another woman was describing the same carefully constructed illusion.
Rebecca returned to practical questions.
"Amber."
"Did you copy everything?"
"No."
"Only what I could download in about ten minutes."
"Where are the copies now?"
"They're on a flash drive."
"Does Marcus know?"
"I don't think so."
Rebecca nodded slowly.
"Good."
A sudden loud noise echoed through Amber's phone.
A car door slammed.
Amber gasped.
"Oh no."
"What happened?" Victoria asked.
"I think he's home."
Rebecca immediately spoke.
"Amber."
"Don't tell us where you are."
"If you're in danger, end the call."
Amber's breathing became faster.
"I have to go."
"Wait."
Victoria's voice softened.
"Are you safe?"
"I don't know."
Then the line went dead.
The room remained silent for several moments.
Finally Eleanor spoke.
"She sounded terrified."
Victoria nodded.
"I believed she was the enemy."
Rebecca looked up from her notes.
"Maybe she believed that too."
An hour later, Rebecca spread dozens of documents across the hotel dining table.
Trust records.
Corporate filings.
Property deeds.
Financial statements.
Victoria watched quietly.
"So where do we begin?"
Rebecca pointed to the oldest document.
"The trust."
"If the land belongs to the Whitmore Trust..."
"...then we have to understand how Marcus built an entire business around it."
Eleanor opened another folder.
"I may be able to help."
Both women looked toward her.
Eleanor took a deep breath.
"There was something Marcus asked me years ago."
"What?"
"He wanted your grandmother's original trust documents."
Victoria frowned.
"Why?"
"He claimed he needed them for refinancing."
"And you believed him?"
"I wanted to."
She lowered her eyes.
"He was my son."
"I didn't imagine he'd misuse them."
Rebecca carefully compared two documents.
Her expression suddenly changed.
"Victoria..."
"What?"
"Come here."
Victoria walked around the table.
Rebecca pointed to two signatures.
"They don't match."
Victoria looked closer.
One signature belonged to her grandmother.
The other appeared almost identical.
Almost.
"The second one..."
Rebecca nodded.
"It doesn't look naturally written."
Victoria stared silently.
"Are you saying..."
"I'm saying I want a handwriting expert to examine it."
Before anyone could say another word, someone knocked gently on the hotel room door.
All three women froze.
No one had ordered food.
No one expected visitors.
Victoria looked through the peephole.
A young hotel employee stood outside holding a small padded envelope.
"For Mrs. Sterling," he called politely.
Victoria opened the door just enough to accept it.
"No return address?"
"I'm afraid not."
Inside the envelope was a single flash drive.
Nothing else.
No note.
No name.
Rebecca looked at it carefully.
"Did Amber send this?"
Victoria shook her head.
"I don't know."
Eleanor whispered,
"Should we plug it in?"
Rebecca immediately answered.
"Not yet."
"We'll use a separate computer."
"If this contains evidence..."
"...we don't want to risk altering it."
Victoria nodded.
"Or if it contains malware."
Rebecca smiled slightly.
"Exactly."
That evening, Rebecca borrowed a clean laptop from one of her firm's forensic specialists.
They gathered around the small desk in the hotel suite.
Victoria inserted the flash drive.
A single folder appeared.
Its name was only one word.
PRIVATE
Victoria clicked it.
Inside were dozens of audio files.
Each labeled with nothing more than a date.
Rebecca opened the earliest recording.
Static filled the room.
Then a man's voice spoke.
Marcus.
Calm.
Confident.
"Begin recording."
Three simple words.
Then another voice entered the conversation.
Victoria's face turned pale.
She recognized it instantly.
It was her own voice.
The recording had been made inside her home.
Without her knowledge.
Without her consent.
And as the audio continued to play...
Rebecca suddenly pressed the pause button.
She looked directly at Victoria.
"You need to hear the rest."
"But first..."
May you like
"I think you should sit down."
End of Part 3
