His Obsession

Chapter 12: Missing Evidence

The archive room looked untouched at first glance.

Rows of filing cabinets stood in their usual formation, the security camera in the corner blinking its steady red light, nothing overturned or broken. It was the kind of scene that made the theft feel almost worse…clean, careful, professional.

"Cabinet fourteen," Mrs. Grey said, standing rigid beside the open drawer, her usual composure cracked at the edges. "Everything related to Mr. Blackwood's final months. The letter. The investigation notes. Gone. All of it."

Adrian stared into the empty drawer like it might rearrange itself back into order through sheer force of will.

"The security footage," he said, voice tight.

"Wiped. The last four hours are just static." Mrs. Grey's hands were trembling slightly, betraying the calm in her voice. "Whoever did this knew exactly what they were looking for and exactly how to erase themselves doing it."

Amelia stood in the doorway, arms wrapped around herself against a cold that had nothing to do with the room's temperature. "That's not something a random person could pull off."

"No." Adrian's jaw was a hard line. "That's someone with access. Someone who knew the security protocols well enough to bypass them without triggering an alert."

"Someone on the inside," Ethan said quietly from behind Amelia, having arrived only minutes earlier, hair still mussed from being pulled out of bed. He looked between Adrian and Mrs. Grey with something like dawning horror. "You don't think…"

"I don't know what to think anymore." Adrian dragged both hands through his hair, some of his careful control finally splintering under the weight of everything. "Four years, Ethan. Four years I've been trying to prove my father didn't die by accident, and the one piece of physical proof I finally found just vanished in a single night."

"There has to be a copy somewhere," Amelia said. "You don't keep something that important as the only record."

Adrian's head snapped up. "I made digital scans. Months ago, before I even told you about the letter." He was already moving, pulling his phone from his pocket, fingers flying across the screen. "They're stored on a private cloud drive. Encrypted. No one should have…"

He stopped.

Amelia watched the color drain from his face as he stared at the screen.

"What?" she asked. "Adrian, what is it?"

"The files are gone from there too." His voice had gone hollow. "Someone accessed my personal cloud storage. Deleted everything. Even the backup."

The room fell into stunned silence.

"That's not possible," Mrs. Grey said. "That drive is protected by two-factor authentication. Only you have access."

"I know." Adrian's hand tightened around the phone until his knuckles went white. "Which means whoever did this either has my authentication codes, or…"

He stopped himself, but Amelia saw exactly where his thoughts had gone, watched him force himself not to say it out loud in front of the room.

Or someone close enough to me had the access to get them.

They regrouped in Adrian's office an hour later, the four of them arranged in tense silence…Adrian behind his desk, Mrs. Grey standing rigid near the door, Ethan sprawled in a chair with none of his usual ease, Amelia perched on the edge of the sofa, watching all of them with a growing unease she couldn't shake.

"We need a list," Adrian said finally, breaking the silence. "Everyone who's had physical access to the archive room in the last month, and everyone who's ever had access to my private systems."

"That's going to be a short but uncomfortable list," Ethan said quietly.

"I know." Adrian's eyes flicked to him, something unreadable passing between them…old friendship colliding with new suspicion. "You're on it, Ethan. So is Mrs. Grey. So is Victoria."

"So are you asking me to suspect myself?" Ethan asked, though there was no real anger in it, just exhaustion.

"I'm asking everyone to be honest about who's had opportunity. That includes all of us." Adrian's gaze moved to Mrs. Grey. "You've worked for this family since before I was born. If there's anything you know…"

"I would have told you years ago, Adrian." Mrs. Grey's voice cracked, the first genuine emotion Amelia had seen from her since they'd met. "I loved your father. I have spent four years grieving him in silence because you needed someone steady, and I have never once betrayed this family's trust."

"I know." Adrian's voice gentled slightly. "I'm not accusing you. I need to hear it stated plainly, that's all. Everyone in this room, right now, plainly. No one leaves without saying it."

The room went quiet, each of them absorbing the weight of what he was asking.

"I didn't take the files," Ethan said first, meeting Adrian's eyes steadily. "I would never do that to you. Or to Robert's memory."

"I didn't take them," Mrs. Grey said, chin lifted despite the tremor still in her hands.

Every eye turned to Amelia last.

She felt the shift instantly…the careful neutrality in Ethan's expression, the wariness in Mrs. Grey's, even Adrian's gaze holding a fraction of hesitation before he could stop it.

"I didn't take them," Amelia said, voice steady despite the sting of being doubted. "I didn't even know the digital copies existed until five minutes ago."

"No one's accusing you," Adrian said quickly.

"It felt like it." Amelia stood, some of the night's exhaustion finally cracking through her composure. "I understand why. I do. Someone attacked Victoria and told her I wasn't who you think I am. I understand why that puts a target on my back in this room. But I need you all to hear me say this clearly too…I have spent the last two weeks finding out my entire family might be tangled up in something I never knew existed. I am not your enemy. I am scared, exactly like the rest of you."

Silence stretched long and uncomfortable after that.

It was Adrian who broke it, standing slowly, circling the desk until he stood in front of her, ignoring the eyes of the room entirely.

"I believe you," he said quietly, just for her. "I should have said that the moment you walked in, not after everyone else had their turn."

Amelia held his gaze, something in her chest loosening slightly despite everything. "Thank you."

It was well past midnight by the time the others left, Ethan and Mrs. Grey retreating to their respective corners of the building, the weight of mutual suspicion trailing after them like smoke.

Amelia lingered in the doorway of Adrian's office, unwilling to leave him alone with the wreckage of the night.

"You should go home," Adrian said, not looking up from the desk, where he'd started methodically searching through drawers for anything the thief might have missed. "Get some sleep. This isn't going anywhere tonight."

"Neither are you, apparently."

A tired, humorless smile flickered across his face. "No. Apparently not."

Amelia crossed the room and sat on the edge of his desk, close enough that he finally looked up at her, exhaustion carved deep into every line of his face.

"Whoever did this," she said quietly, "they're panicking. That's what this feels like to me. Someone who thought they'd buried this forever and is suddenly terrified it's about to come back up."

Adrian considered that, something calculating sliding back into his expression despite the hour. "That's a good read."

"It means we're close to something. Closer than they're comfortable with."

Amelia hesitated, then reached out, covering his hand with hers on the desk. "It also means we need to be careful. All of us."

His hand turned beneath hers, fingers lacing through hers slowly, like he needed the anchor of it. "I already lost the files. I am not losing you too."

"You're not going to."

"You don't know that." His voice was rough, urgent in a way that made her chest ache. "Amelia, whoever's doing this has already hurt my sister and destroyed four years of evidence in a single night. I don't know what they're capable of, and I don't know how to keep you safe from something I can't even see coming."

"Then we figure it out together." She squeezed his hand. "Starting now. What do you actually remember about that letter? Every detail, even the ones that seemed unimportant."

Adrian was quiet for a long moment, eyes distant, clearly forcing himself back through a memory he'd rather forget.

"There was a name," he said slowly. "One line, near the end, that I never told anyone. Not even Victoria."

Amelia's pulse quickened. "What name?"

Adrian's eyes met hers, dark and haunted.

"Your mother's.”

P.S.: IF YOU'RE HOOKED ALREADY, PLEASE ADD THIS TO YOUR LIBRARY AND KEEP READING.

EVERY CHAPTER GETS BETTER, AND I WRITE THIS STORY WITH Y'ALL IN MIND. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING A NEW AUTHOR.

...#OMAH