Chapter 5 - THE HOTEL ROOM WITH TWO CAMERAS
Adrian obtained the footage legally through the hotel after showing the threat investigation.
Lobby.
Elevator.
Hallway.
Matthias and Fiona entered the suite together at 8:14 p.m.
He had lied to me.
No question.
But then another person entered twelve minutes later.
Richard Vale.
Fiona's father.
He stayed forty-three minutes.
Left alone.
Then Matthias exited at 10:02.
Fiona remained.
The restaurant receipt for two?
Matthias and Richard.
Not Fiona.
That didn't make the emotional betrayal disappear.
But the hotel night had been partly business.
Then footage from the next morning.
Fiona leaving the suite with a bruised wrist.
Matthias wasn't there.
“What happened?” I asked.
She stared at the screen.
“My father.”
The room went quiet.
Richard had confronted her because she was helping Matthias investigate the Hensley structure.
He wanted her off the project.
She refused.
He grabbed her.
Matthias returned later and saw the bruising.
That was when he bought the necklace?
No.
The necklace had already been purchased.
A disguised storage device.
Matthias chose jewelry because Fiona's father frequently searched her work bags but not what she wore.
Smart.
Then I asked the harder question.
“When did you start sleeping together?”
Fiona looked at Matthias.
“Two months before.”
Good.
No convenient absolution.
Matthias said:
“Serena—”
“No.”
He stopped.
I was not ready for apology theater.
Adrian continued the footage review.
Another camera showed someone entering the suite after Fiona left.
A hotel maintenance employee.
Except uniform records showed no scheduled service.
The man carried a small device.
He spent seven minutes inside.
Then left.
Facial recognition from private investigators produced a name.
Paul Hensley.
Nephew of Hensley's CEO.
Corporate intelligence specialist.
The hotel suite had been searched.
Maybe bugged.
Maybe copied.
Then Fiona revealed there were two cameras inside the room.
Not hotel cameras.
She discovered them afterward.
One hidden in a smoke detector.
One in a lamp.
Someone had recorded the meeting with Richard.
And likely more.
Including Matthias and Fiona together.
Whoever planned the corporate collapse possessed both blackmail and financial leverage.
Then Adrian asked:
“Did you ever receive a copy?”
Fiona nodded.
One clip.
Anonymous.
It showed her kissing Matthias.
Message beneath:
Continue helping him and Serena receives everything.
I stared at her.
“You knew someone might send me proof.”
“Yes.”
“And you continued.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because by then Sabrina was missing.”
That stopped me.
Fiona had received a message from Sabrina weeks earlier.
One sentence:
If anything happens to me, trust Serena before you trust another Dre.
Me.
Why would Sabrina trust me?
I barely knew her.
Then Fiona gave me the final attachment Sabrina had sent.
A copy of my prenatal insurance file.
May you like
Someone inside Dre Holdings had requested genetic records for my unborn daughter.
Without my permission.
