Chapter 5 - The Decoy Folder
Ethan flipped through the folder like a man trying to dig air out of paper.
His fingers moved too fast.
Page after page.
Charts.
Contracts.
Corporate summaries.
Asset references.
None of them readable on camera, but every page looked official enough to panic over and useless enough to ruin him.
Claire knew that folder.
She had placed it there two weeks earlier after her private counsel warned her that Ethan had started asking about internal file locations.
Decoy corporate documents.
Perfect bait.
Ethan’s jaw clenched so hard the muscles jumped beneath his skin.
“These aren’t the originals.”
Diane spun toward him.
“What?”
“These are decoys.”
The word made Marcus back away from the safe.
One accomplice whispered, “We should leave.”
Diane shrieked, “The doors are locked.”
Her jewelry rattled as she tried again to remove the bracelet.
The clasp stuck.
Of course it did.
Claire almost heard her grandmother laughing.
Ethan lifted his eyes toward the camera.
“You planned this.”
Claire spoke through the intercom, calm and lethal.
“No, Ethan. You did.”
He lunged toward the monitor and slammed one hand beneath it, searching for cables.
The screen stayed on.
Julian had already routed the system beyond local control.
Claire watched him fail.
A strange sadness moved through her anger.
She had married a man who believed intimacy meant access.
He had learned where she kept keys, jewelry, documents, passwords, routines, grief.
Then he confused knowledge with ownership.
Diane staggered toward the kitchen island, the stolen bracelet still trapped around her wrist.
“I didn’t steal it,” she whispered toward the camera. “I was just holding it.”
Claire’s voice returned.
“Then why is it fastened?”
Diane’s lips trembled.
Ethan turned on his mother.
“Stop talking.”
She stared at him.
May you like
For the first time, Diane looked less like an accomplice and more like someone realizing Ethan might sacrifice her first.
Read Chapter 6 👉 Because the decoy folder exposed Ethan’s real goal, while Diane’s stolen bracelet made denial impossible.
