Chapter 1: The Flash Drive
Chapter 1: The Flash Drive
The front door burst open as sheriff's deputies rushed inside.
The elegant dining room transformed into a crime scene within seconds.
One deputy guided me into a chair and pressed clean gauze against the wound on my head.
Another ordered everyone else to remain where they were.
Adrian immediately pointed at me.
"She slipped! She fell into the table!"
His mother nodded so quickly it looked rehearsed.
"Yes, Officer. It was just an accident."
One by one, relatives repeated the same story.
It was almost identical.
Too identical.
Then an officer looked up.
"Sir... is that security camera recording?"
Silence.
Adrian's father hesitated.
"It hasn't worked for years."
Before anyone could respond, a young deputy walked into the security office beside the dining room.
A few moments later he called out.
"That's strange."
"The system is still running."
Every face at the table changed.
The deputies secured the recorder before anyone could touch it.
As paramedics prepared to take me to the hospital, I felt something hard inside my coat pocket.
The black flash drive.
Maya avoided looking at me.
She simply whispered,
"Not here."
"Read it somewhere safe."
At the hospital, after receiving several stitches, I finally plugged the flash drive into my laptop.
Instead of family photos or financial records...
There were dozens of folders.
Each one labeled with a year.
Videos.
Audio recordings.
Scanned medical reports.
Police reports that had somehow disappeared.
Photos of bruises.
Broken furniture.
Threatening text messages.
Women.
Different women.
Some had married into the Caldwell family.
Others had worked for them.
One document froze me completely.
Confidential Settlement Agreement.
A woman had accepted nearly two million dollars after suffering permanent injuries during what the family called "a domestic misunderstanding."
Another folder contained surveillance footage.
Not of me.
Of Maya.
She was being shoved down a staircase by Adrian's older brother.
The recording ended before anyone called for help.
At the bottom of the folder was one handwritten note.
If anything happens to me, give this to someone who still has the courage to fight.
I finally understood why Maya had been trembling.
She wasn't protecting herself anymore.
She was protecting the truth.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown Number.
When I answered, no one spoke.
After several seconds, a calm male voice finally said,
"You've opened the drive."
May you like
"Now they're coming for it."
The line went dead.
