Chapter 5: The Missing Identity
I didn’t immediately rush up the grand, sweeping staircase. Panic is the enemy of preservation.
Natalie was still in my ear. “Vivian, do not touch anything with your bare hands. Preserve the scene. It’s a potential crime scene now.”
I used the internal radio to call Marcus. “I need a supervisor inside the main house immediately. Bring a camera.”
Ten minutes later, a towering security supervisor named Hayes stood beside me as we approached the heavy oak doors of my second-floor office. I used my phone to photograph the door frame, the locks, and the surrounding hallway. Nothing looked violently disturbed. The lock hadn’t been picked; it had been opened with a key.
I unlocked the door, stepped inside, and walked directly to the locked, fireproof document drawer in my desk. I used my code. The drawer slid open smoothly.
I exhaled a shaky breath. The thick, red folder containing my original, authenticated property deed was still sitting exactly where I had left it. So were my tax records, my corporate filings, and my premium insurance policies.
But as my fingers walked through the files, my blood ran instantly cold. One specific, thin manila folder was missing.
“What is it, Ms. Mercer?” Hayes asked, noticing the color drain from my face.
Inside that missing folder, I had kept a pristine photocopy of my current passport, an old, expired driver’s license, and several heavily notarized documents from a complex business acquisition I had executed two years earlier.
Caleb knew that specific folder existed. He had stood directly behind my desk and watched me retrieve documents from it when we updated our homeowner’s insurance policy a year ago.
He didn’t need to steal the deed. He only needed my authenticated signature samples and my government identification to create a new one.
“Hayes,” I whispered, staring into the empty gap in the drawer. “Call the local police precinct. We have a felony theft to report.”
I spent the next two hours giving official statements to a pair of bewildered police officers, reporting the suspected missing identity documents and the disputed, fraudulent property transfer.
Meanwhile, I monitored the gate feed. Caleb and his family had finally abandoned their siege. But they hadn’t gone back to their respective homes. Security footage showed them frantically getting into two separate cars. Mason aggressively drove Caleb’s SUV. The second car, a luxury sedan, belonged to Denise. They were retreating to strategize.
The war hadn’t ended at the gate. The siege had merely moved into the shadows.
