CHAPTER 12 — THE FIRE
Smoke was already rising over Bellamy headquarters when we arrived.
Fire engines blocked the street.
Employees stood outside in confusion, many still holding laptops and coffee cups.
Eleanor had claimed there was a gas leak and ordered everyone to evacuate.
Minutes later, a fire started in the records department.
My father looked at the flames.
“She’s destroying evidence.”
The fire chief confirmed that the sprinkler system on the records floor had been manually disabled.
Eleanor had disappeared from the wedding reception before police formally detained her.
She had used a catering exit during Dominic’s escape.
Now she was inside the burning building.
One employee approached us.
It was Eleanor’s longtime assistant, Mrs. Greene.
“She took boxes into the old boardroom.”
“What boxes?” I asked.
“Payroll records. Pension files. Vendor contracts.”
Evidence of the money stolen from employees.
A firefighter stopped me as I moved toward the entrance.
“You cannot go inside.”
“I’m not trying to.”
I pulled out my black access card.
Bellamy headquarters had recently installed an Ashcroft emergency management system as part of the proposed merger.
My card could access it.
From a command vehicle, I logged into the building network.
The fifth-floor sprinklers were disabled.
I restored them.
Water began pouring through the records department.
The fire weakened.
Then the system showed someone trapped in the old boardroom.
Eleanor.
Firefighters reached her ten minutes later.
She emerged coughing, soaked, and furious.
The moment she saw me, she tried to attack.
“You destroyed my family!”
Police restrained her.
“No,” I said. “You did.”
She screamed that the company belonged to her.
My father’s attorney held up a newly signed order.
“Bellamy Hospitality is now under emergency receivership. Its primary creditor has exercised control.”
Eleanor stared at my father.
He shook his head.
“Not me.”
I stepped forward.
“Ashcroft Employee Recovery Trust purchased the debt this morning.”
“What is that?”
“A trust I control.”
Her face collapsed.
I had decided Bellamy Hospitality would not be closed.
Its employees would not pay for the crimes of its owners.
The company would be restructured, its hotels sold gradually, and stolen pension funds restored.
Eleanor, Dominic, Grant, and Samuel would lose everything.
The workers would not.
As police placed Eleanor in the car, she smiled suddenly.
“You think you won?”
I said nothing.
She leaned closer.
“Ask Amanda why she agreed to carry the ring.”
Amanda stood behind me.
Her face went white.
Eleanor laughed.
“She wasn’t helping Chloe for free.”
I turned toward Amanda.
“What did she promise you?”
Amanda began trembling.
Then she looked at my stomach.
May you like
“She promised to tell me what happened to your first baby.”
End of Chapter 12…
