Chapter 4: The Prescott Empire Strikes Back
Chapter 4: The Prescott Empire Strikes Back
The search warrant arrived at the Prescott estate just after sunrise.
Three marked police vehicles rolled through the wrought-iron gates, followed by a forensic van.
Detective Daniel Brooks stepped out first.
Behind him came two crime scene investigators carrying evidence cases.
The mansion stood as elegantly as ever.
Perfect hedges.
Marble fountains.
Fresh flowers lined the entrance.
From the outside, it looked like the home of one of America's most respected families.
Inside...
It was becoming a crime scene.
The Search
Margaret Prescott opened the front door herself.
She wore a cream-colored silk suit and a smile that never reached her eyes.
"Detective Brooks."
"What a surprise."
Brooks handed her the warrant.
"We're here to search the guest house and seize any electronic devices related to Emily Hart."
Margaret glanced at the document.
"You won't find anything."
"We'll decide that."
She stepped aside gracefully.
"Please don't damage the furniture."
As officers spread across the property, Margaret quietly turned to Ethan.
"They're too late."
Ethan nodded.
"It was handled before dawn."
An Empty Room
The guest house door creaked open.
Detective Brooks entered first.
The room was spotless.
Too spotless.
The bed had been remade.
The carpet had been freshly vacuumed.
The wastebasket was empty.
Every drawer had been cleaned.
Even the mirrors sparkled.
One of the forensic technicians frowned.
"This place looks staged."
Brooks slowly walked through the room.
Then he stopped.
A faint rectangular outline remained on the wall.
"Something used to hang here."
"What?"
"A security monitor."
The wiring behind the wall had been cut cleanly.
Someone had removed the surveillance system only hours before the warrant arrived.
Erased
In the estate's security office, technicians examined the recording system.
One hard drive.
Thirty-two cameras.
Zero footage.
The entire week's recordings had been deleted.
A forensic analyst looked up.
"Professional wipe."
"No recovery?"
She shook her head.
"Someone used military-grade deletion software."
Brooks frowned.
"That kind of software isn't common."
"No."
She pointed to the server.
"Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing."
The Media Turns
Across town, Victoria and Emily watched the morning news from Emily's hospital room.
The anchor spoke confidently.
"Sources close to the Prescott family say recent allegations may be connected to emotional instability following marital difficulties."
The screen changed.
Photographs of Emily smiling with a champagne glass at a charity gala appeared.
Another showed her crying after a funeral.
The anchor continued.
"Friends reportedly describe Mrs. Prescott as emotionally fragile."
Emily stared at the television.
"I never spoke to them."
Victoria reached for the remote and switched it off.
"They don't need your words."
"They only need a story."
Emily whispered,
"They're making me look crazy."
Victoria looked directly at her.
"No."
"They're trying."
The Smear Campaign
By noon, social media was flooded with anonymous accounts.
Emily Hart fabricated the abuse.
Gold digger seeks Prescott fortune.
Army Colonel abuses influence.
Old photographs of Victoria from combat deployments appeared online with misleading captions.
One headline read:
IS COLONEL HART USING MILITARY POWER TO DESTROY A PROMINENT FAMILY?
Another questioned her leadership record, twisting routine military reports into fabricated scandals.
Emily felt sick.
"They're attacking you because of me."
Victoria calmly closed the laptop.
"They're attacking me because they're losing."
A Dangerous Leak
That afternoon, Victoria received an unexpected phone call.
"Colonel Hart?"
"This is General Marcus Reynolds."
Victoria immediately stood.
"Sir."
"I've been contacted by the Department of Defense."
She frowned.
"About what?"
"Someone anonymously submitted confidential documents from your military career."
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
"What documents?"
"Deployment evaluations."
"Personnel reports."
"Mission summaries."
The General paused.
"They're trying to imply misconduct."
Victoria already understood.
"They're hoping the Army distances itself from me."
"Exactly."
There was a brief silence.
Then General Reynolds spoke firmly.
"I reviewed every file myself."
"And?"
"They're clean."
Victoria smiled faintly.
"I appreciate that, sir."
"You've served this country with honor."
His voice hardened.
"If someone thinks they're going to intimidate one of my officers..."
"They've chosen the wrong battlefield."
The Deleted Appointment
Detective Brooks continued tracing Emily's missing medical records.
One discovery immediately stood out.
Emily had visited a private orthopedic clinic three months earlier.
The appointment existed in the billing system.
But not in the medical database.
The doctor's notes...
Gone.
X-rays...
Gone.
Photographs...
Gone.
Someone had erased only Emily's records.
Nothing else.
Brooks looked at the clinic administrator.
"Who has access?"
She swallowed nervously.
"Only senior administrators."
"How many?"
"Four."
Brooks nodded.
"I'll need all of their names."
Cracks in the Empire
Meanwhile, inside Prescott Industries headquarters, panic had begun to spread.
The company's stock had dropped nearly eight percent since the allegations became public.
Board members demanded an emergency meeting.
Investors wanted answers.
One director looked directly at Ethan.
"Did you abuse your wife?"
Ethan forced a smile.
"Absolutely not."
Another executive spoke.
"Then why are the police executing search warrants?"
Ethan had no answer.
For the first time, members of the board looked less concerned about protecting the Prescott name...
And more concerned about protecting their own careers.
Margaret watched silently.
She could feel control slipping away.
The Journalist
Late that evening, an investigative journalist named Sarah Bennett arrived at Mercy General Hospital.
She requested an interview with Victoria.
The nurse asked whether she should send her away.
Victoria thought for a moment.
Then nodded.
Sarah entered carrying only a notebook.
"No cameras."
"No photographers."
Victoria appreciated that.
"I've covered powerful families for fifteen years," Sarah said.
"I've learned one thing."
Victoria waited.
"When wealthy people spend millions attacking one woman..."
She looked toward Emily.
"...it's usually because they're terrified of what she knows."
Victoria smiled slightly.
"Then perhaps you should keep asking questions."
Sarah closed her notebook.
"I intend to."
Margaret's Last Card
That night, Margaret sat alone in her private office.
A crystal glass of untouched wine rested beside her.
Brandon entered without knocking.
"The board is nervous."
"They'll recover."
"The police searched the guest house."
"They found nothing."
Brandon hesitated.
"Mother..."
"What?"
"What if Emily remembers where she hid it?"
The room fell silent.
Margaret slowly turned toward the large painting hanging above her fireplace.
Behind it was a concealed safe.
She entered a six-digit code.
The steel door opened.
Inside lay passports.
Cash.
Confidential contracts.
And a small velvet pouch.
Margaret removed a tiny memory card.
No larger than a fingernail.
The only copy she had found after tearing apart the guest house.
She smiled.
"So long as this stays with me..."
"They have no proof."
At that very moment, neither Margaret nor Brandon noticed the faint blinking light outside the study window.
A tiny military-grade camera, attached beneath the stone ledge, had recorded everything.
Miles away, inside an unmarked surveillance van, Detective Brooks stared at the live feed.
One of his officers looked at him in confusion.
"You knew she'd check the safe?"
Brooks nodded slowly.
"No."
"I knew she'd panic."
He watched Margaret carefully place the memory card back inside the hidden compartment.
Then he smiled for the first time all week.
May you like
"Now we know exactly where the evidence is."
End of Chapter 4
