“I Fixed My CEO’s Broken Fence — Then She Personally Thanked Me Over Dinner”
Chapter 7
The key opened a locker at a private storage facility in Chicago.
The locker contained almost nothing.
A cardboard box.
An old laptop.
A photograph.
And a letter.
The photograph showed my father standing beside Victoria’s father.
They were younger.
Both smiling.
On the back was a date.
Twenty-four years earlier.
The letter was addressed to me.
I opened it with shaking hands.
Daniel,
If you’re reading this, then someone finally found the truth.
I don’t know how much time I have.
You were too young when this began. I wanted to protect you.
I failed.
The Whitmore family isn’t your enemy.
The people around them are.
Trust Victoria.
I looked up.
Victoria was reading over my shoulder.
She became silent.
“Why did he say to trust you?”
“I don’t know.”
I continued.
There is one account they cannot access.
The account contains proof of everything.
The password is not a name.
It is a date.
The day I met your mother.
I stared at the letter.
“Do you know?”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
I thought.
My mother had died when I was young.
But I remembered stories.
My parents met at a county fair.
July 14.
I entered the date.
The laptop unlocked.
Thousands of files appeared.
Bank transfers.
Recordings.
Emails.
Contracts.
Enough evidence to destroy the board.
Victoria stared at the screen.
“That’s everything.”
“Not everything.”
I opened the final folder.
It contained one audio recording.
We played it.
My father’s voice filled the room.
“I know you’re listening.”
A second voice answered.
Victoria’s father.
“We’re out of time.”
“They’re coming.”
“Then send the files.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because they have our families.”
Silence.
Then my father’s voice:
“Then we protect the children.”
Victoria covered her mouth.
Her father continued.
“If we die, Victoria becomes the target.”
“And Daniel?”
“His son is the key.”
The recording ended.
I stared at Victoria.
“What does that mean?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Then we heard a noise outside the storage room.
Someone was walking past.
We froze.
The footsteps stopped.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Victoria whispered:
“How many people know we’re here?”
“Only us.”
The door handle moved.
I grabbed the laptop.
Victoria reached for the emergency exit.
The door opened.
A man stepped inside.
It was one of Victoria’s board members.
James Carter.
He smiled.
“Victoria.”
She stared.
“What are you doing here?”
He looked at me.
“Your little groundskeeper is more important than you realize.”
I stepped forward.
“How?”
Carter’s smile disappeared.
“Because your father hid something inside you.”
I frowned.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he raised his phone.
“You have ten minutes.”
“Until what?”
“Until the board votes to remove Victoria.”
He walked away.
Victoria watched him disappear.
Then she looked at me.
“Your father knew this would happen.”
I nodded.
“But he also knew how to stop it.”
We looked at the laptop.
There was one file remaining.
It was labeled:
FINAL INSTRUCTION.
