Chapter 3
The police arrived in eight minutes.
Ambulance first.
Then local officers.
Then state investigators once my name hit the system.
The lobby stayed locked until I released each entrance manually.
Daniel tried to approach me while paramedics cleaned my face.
A security guard blocked him.
My security guard.
Not his.
That mattered.
For seven years, Daniel had replaced loyal staff with people who feared him.
But the founder badge had restored the original command hierarchy.
My grandfather’s last gift.
A detective named Mara Quinn knelt beside me.
“Ms. Somor, can you tell me what happened?”
I looked at Daniel.
“Yes.”
I told her about the mountain road.
The black SUV.
The impact.
The crash.
The phone missing from my wrecked car.
The strange message Daniel sent an hour before.
Take the north pass. Faster and private.
Daniel said, “I was helping her avoid press.”
Detective Quinn did not look at him.
“Do you have the message?”
“My phone is gone.”
Daniel almost smiled.
I smiled back.
“But my car syncs to the resort server.”
His smile died.
The IT director, a woman named Priya, rushed forward.
“I can retrieve it.”
Daniel snapped, “Priya, you are suspended.”
I held up the badge.
“No. She is not.”
Priya’s eyes filled.
She had worked for my grandfather.
She had been demoted under Daniel.
Now she stood taller.
“I’ll get everything,” she said.
Vanessa suddenly tried to leave through the spa corridor.
The doors remained locked.
She screamed at the scanner.
“Open!”
I watched her.
“Funny,” I said softly. “This morning you wanted me thrown out. Now you can’t get out either.”
She turned, face twisted.
“You should have stayed gone.”
May you like
The detective heard.
So did the cameras.
