Chapter 165

“Ben? What are you doing?”
Her assistant, who had been peeking over her laptop screen, jolted upright as if caught red-handed. He straightened his posture quickly, eyes wide with surprise.
“I… I just came here to check my emails,” he stammered and explained. “My laptop suddenly crashed, and I’ve already called in a technician to take a look at it. But we’re expecting a few important mails today, so I didn’t want to risk missing anything crucial. I hope you don’t mind that I was using your system—I only logged in briefly.”
Melanie walked into the office, and walked around her desk to take her seat and Ben instinctively took a step back, making space for her. “It’s okay,” she said, offering a reassuring smile as she lowered herself into her chair. “You don’t have to look as if I caught you stealing company secrets. So, did you manage to check everything?”
“Yes, I did,” he replied with an alarmed expression, “And it’s a good thing I did too. The interior designer who reached out to us last month—the one interested in the sports furniture line and our exclusive collections—got back to us. She’s currently working on a major show for StormEdge and is eager to collaborate. I’ve already forwarded her proposal and details to the design department so they can start evaluating the feasibility. If all goes well, Denoit can begin working on the initial design concepts, and we’ll be in a good position to move forward with contract negotiations.”
Melanie arched an eyebrow with interest. “Well, that was really efficient of you,” she said, a trace of admiration in her voice. “Good call on forwarding it immediately. That could be a huge opportunity if we play it right.”
She opened her laptop which he had snapped shut in a hurry her fingers already moving swiftly over the keyboard as she changed the tab and logged into her account.
“And what about the web and app development team?” she asked, not looking up. “Any updates from their side?”
Ben hesitated for a second, watching her become engrossed in her screen again, before quickly replying, “Nothing major yet. I believe they’re still testing the new UI integration, but I’ll follow up with them to make sure we stay on track.”
As Melanie continued reviewing her messages and issuing follow-ups in a focused tone, Ben allowed himself a quiet, relieved breath. She hadn’t suspected anything unusual. Whatever nervousness had flickered in his chest began to ebb away—at least for now as he returned to work.
Once outside, he countinued to work as usual but on the inside he was already cursing someone for putting him upto this task.
***
“We’ve finally figured out how and when Mrs Melanie came across the sound recording that she exposed in front of the media, sir. Apparently, Mrs Melanie has access to Lady Collins’ email account. It turns out that in the last months of her life, Lady Collins had started storing a significant amount of personal data online—documents, voice notes, even video clips—and all of it had been left in Mrs Melanie’s hands.”
“From the video evidence we have here, it’s clear that while she was waiting for the press conference to begin, Melanie was scrolling through that very email account. At some point, she stumbled upon the folder containing the voice recordings. As for the other files—specifically those two videos—they had been sent directly to her inbox. However, we’re still working on identifying the number that forwarded the recordings. The only information we have so far is that it belongs to someone named Max…”
There was a moment of silence before Sir Robert’s rage exploded. He picked up the paper weight on his desk and threw it at the wall in anger!
“Unbelievable,” he muttered. “We’ve had eyes on Melanie for years, and yet no one thought to check if my wife had left anything behind in a digital vault? An email account that was practically in plain sight, handed to Melanie, and all of you overlooked it completely. If it weren’t for my people digging in the shadows, and discovering Melanie havingaccess to this, everything would’ve gone unnoticed.”
He threw a look at the papers on the table in frustration and shook his head. “This is what happens when people start getting too comfortable.First I discover your oversight in Saira’s case! Then there is this! What am I paying you people for? What about the recent news of Saira?”
The two people standing in front of him shuffled on their feet and exchanged a look before explaining in a small voice,”Saira has been trying to make contact with someone. She’s been careful, always stepping out to use different numbers, but we’ve confirmed at least three attempts over the last twenty-four hours. The issue is… we haven’t been able to trace the caller on the other end. They’re using some sort of signal interference—possibly a high-frequency bounce or scrambled relay. Whatever it is, it’s strong enough to block both trace routes and recording. Every call goes dark the moment it connects.”
Sir Robert clenched his hands tightly at the words, his knuckles turning white. All his life, he had schemed, plotted, and pulled strings behind the scenes to get exactly what he wanted. Manipulation had been his currency, and patience, his most trusted weapon. But now—now it felt like his luck was starting to slip through his fingers.
Adam, Saira, and Melanie—each one of them had become a thorn in his side.
Somehow, despite all his calculations, everything was starting to move against him. The pieces no longer fit. The people he had once dismissed as insignificant had started gaining ground, and that was something he could not afford.
He tapped his fingers slowly against the polished surface of the table. The time for waiting had passed. Find out what happens,” he said, “if Melanie or Adam were to die before the terms of the will are fulfilled. Every clause. Every technicality. I want all the implications—legal, financial, and otherwise. Especially, if one of them is accused of killing the other.”
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