Chapter 4 - The Red Drive
By sunrise, Richard had not slept.
Sophie finally drifted into a peaceful sleep around four in the morning, curled beneath a blanket beside Maria.
Richard sat alone in his study.
The red USB drive was on the desk.
Dana had allowed him to secure it because it had been found inside his home and appeared connected to the threats Camille had made.
But she warned him not to tamper with anything that might become evidence.
So Richard did not plug it into his computer.
He called Nathan Brooks.
Nathan had been Richard’s attorney for seventeen years and his closest friend for nearly as long.
He arrived at 6:12 a.m. wearing wrinkled trousers and a coat thrown over a T-shirt.
“You look terrible.”
“My wife may have abused my daughter, forged legal documents, and drugged me.”
Nathan set down his coffee.
“I withdraw the observation.”
Richard handed him the documents.
Nathan spent twenty minutes reading.
Then he said one word.
“Fake.”
Richard looked up.
“You’re sure?”
“I drafted your real trust structure myself.”
Nathan pointed at the signature block.
“This seal is wrong. The witness section is formatted incorrectly. And this version refers to Hale International Holdings as an LLC.”
“It’s a corporation.”
“Exactly.”
Richard sat back.
“So somebody created this.”
“Somebody with access to enough information to make it look convincing.”
Nathan looked at the red drive.
“And that?”
“Camille didn’t want me touching it.”
Nathan pulled out his phone.
“I know a forensic consultant.”
By eight, the study had become a temporary evidence room.
Lena Park, a digital forensic specialist, photographed the drive, the laptop message, the folder, and the second phone before touching anything.
She worked quietly.
Richard watched the hallway.
Every few minutes he checked on Sophie.
Every few minutes guilt returned.
How had he missed it?
Lena finally spoke.
“The drive is encrypted.”
“Can you open it?”
“Probably.”
“How long?”
Nathan gave Richard a warning look.
Richard sighed.
“Do what you need to do.”
At eleven, the gate security called.
“Mr. Hale, Mrs. Hale’s attorney is here.”
Richard frowned.
“Already?”
Nathan stood.
“That was fast.”
Camille’s attorney was Elaine Mercer.
No relation to Dana.
Elaine represented people who did not lose.
She entered the study carrying a leather briefcase.
“My client requests access to her belongings and immediate restoration of several financial accounts you froze this morning.”
Richard looked at Nathan.
“You froze them?”
“Two joint discretionary accounts.”
Elaine’s expression remained smooth.
“My client considers that retaliatory.”
“My client considers forged trust documents concerning,” Nathan replied.
Elaine looked at Richard.
“Camille denies forging anything.”
“Then who did?”
“She doesn’t know.”
Richard laughed.
“She kept them in her room.”
“She says they were prepared for her.”
“By whom?”
Elaine hesitated.
Nathan leaned forward.
“That pause matters.”
Elaine ignored him.
“My client also intends to seek temporary access to Sophie.”
Richard stood.
“No.”
“You don’t get to decide.”
“I do until a judge says otherwise.”
“She is Sophie’s legal stepmother.”
“She abused her.”
“Allegedly.”
“She locked her in a laundry room.”
“Allegedly.”
“She threatened a witness.”
“Allegedly.”
Richard stepped closer.
“And did she allegedly drug me too?”
For the first time, Elaine’s face changed.
Only a fraction.
Enough.
Nathan saw it too.
“What drugging?” she asked.
Richard watched carefully.
“Interesting.”
Elaine closed her briefcase.
“I’m not discussing unsupported accusations.”
Before she could leave, Lena appeared in the doorway.
“Richard.”
He turned.
“I got in.”
Elaine stopped.
Her eyes moved to the red drive.
Lena noticed.
“What’s on it?” Richard asked.
Lena looked at Elaine.
“Private financial records.”
Nathan immediately stepped forward.
“Whose?”
“Hale Group’s.”
Richard frowned.
“What kind?”
“Internal transfers. Holding company structures. Password vault exports.”
His blood ran cold.
Lena continued.
“And personal records.”
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“Sophie’s birth certificate. Medical records. Social Security information.”
Elaine’s face was unreadable.
Richard asked the question slowly.
“Why would Camille have all of that?”
Lena shook her head.
“That’s not the biggest problem.”
She opened her laptop.
“There are folders labeled with dates going back almost two years.”
Richard looked at the screen.
VIDEO 01.
VIDEO 02.
VIDEO 03.
His chest tightened.
“Videos of Sophie?”
“Some.”
He stopped breathing.
Lena clicked one.
The image showed the kitchen.
Sophie, younger, sitting in a high chair.
Camille stood nearby.
The video had been filmed from an angle near the ceiling.
A hidden camera.
Richard leaned closer.
Camille placed a plate in front of Sophie.
The little girl pushed it away.
Camille immediately removed it.
The time stamp jumped.
Twenty minutes.
Forty.
One hour.
Sophie cried.
Camille watched.
No comfort.
No food.
Then Camille leaned close to the child and spoke.
The audio was clear.
“Daddy loves good girls.”
Richard’s face went white.
“If you cry, he’ll leave again.”
Sophie’s small face crumpled.
Camille smiled.
Richard slammed his palm onto the desk.
Elaine flinched.
Nathan grabbed his arm.
“Richard.”
Another video.
Laundry room.
Sophie crying behind a closed door.
Another.
Camille forcing the child to repeat:
“I fall because I’m clumsy.”
Again.
“I fall because I’m clumsy.”
Again.
“I fall because I’m clumsy.”
Richard turned away.
He could not watch.
Lena paused the video.
“There’s more.”
Nathan looked sick.
“What?”
“Audio files involving Richard.”
Richard faced her.
She opened one.
Camille’s voice.
“So if he’s unconscious, I need the amended trust signed that night.”
A man answered.
“You need more than a signature.”
“I’ll get whatever you need.”
Richard looked at Nathan.
“Who is that?”
Lena shook her head.
“I don’t recognize him.”
The recording continued.
Camille laughed softly.
“He works eighteen-hour days. Everyone already thinks he’s exhausted.”
The man answered.
“And the child?”
A pause.
Then Camille said something that froze everyone in the room.
“The child is leverage.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Elaine stood.
“I need to leave.”
Nathan blocked the door.
“You walked in here representing her.”
“I’m still bound by professional obligations.”
“Then advise your client not to destroy evidence.”
Elaine stared at him.
“I will not participate in this conversation.”
She left.
Richard barely noticed.
He was staring at the laptop.
“The child is leverage.”
Three words.
That was what his daughter had been reduced to.
A tool.
A pressure point.
A weakness.
Lena clicked another folder.
“This one is called Phase Two.”
Richard looked.
Inside were photographs of Richard’s private jet schedule.
Maps of his office parking garage.
Sophie’s preschool.
Maria’s home.
And one photograph of a man Richard recognized immediately.
Nathan saw his reaction.
“You know him?”
Richard nodded.
“Victor Dane.”
“Who is he?”
Richard’s voice lowered.
“My former chief financial officer.”
Nathan frowned.
“The one you fired?”
“Three years ago.”
“For embezzlement?”
Richard nodded.
Lena opened one more audio file.
Victor’s voice filled the study.
“You get me back inside Hale Group, and I’ll make sure Richard never gets control back.”
Camille replied:
“What about Sophie?”
Victor laughed.
“If everything works, Richard won’t be around long enough to fight for her.”
The room went completely silent.
Nathan turned toward Richard.
“This isn’t a divorce scheme.”
Richard stared at the screen.
“No.”
He finally understood the scale of it.
May you like
Camille had not been trying to leave his empire.
She had been trying to inherit it.
