Chapter 12 - The Golden Ledger
The following night, the sprawling mountain estate was completely silent, save for the heavy rain beating against the massive glass windows.
Owen had retreated to the master bedroom an hour ago, completely exhausted from a tense conference call with his international distributors.
I stood in the dark hallway outside his private home office, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs.
I slowly pushed the heavy oak door open, wincing as the brass hinges let out a faint, metallic groan.
The office was illuminated only by the occasional flash of lightning, casting long, terrifying shadows across the expensive mahogany furniture.
I walked silently behind the massive desk and approached the exquisite oil painting mounted on the back wall.
I knew the biometric safe was hidden securely behind the canvas because I had watched Owen access it the day we moved in.
I carefully swung the painting aside, revealing the sleek, glowing interface of the heavy steel safe.
It required a thumbprint and a retinal scan to open, a security measure that should have been completely impossible to bypass.
However, during my time as a hospital cleaner, I had learned exactly how to lift a perfect latent fingerprint using clear medical adhesive tape.
I pulled a small piece of tape from my pocket, bearing the precise imprint of Owen's thumb I had carefully lifted from his whiskey glass earlier that evening.
I pressed the tape against the optical scanner, holding my breath as the machine processed the stolen biometric data.
The scanner beeped softly, flashing a brilliant green light, but the heavy steel door remained locked.
The retinal scanner immediately activated, emitting a narrow red laser that swept across the dark room.
I panicked, realizing I had absolutely no way to bypass the secondary optical security protocol.
Suddenly, the heavy oak door of the office clicked shut, instantly plunging the room into total darkness.
"The retinal scanner requires a living pulse, Clara."
Owen's deep, incredibly calm voice echoed from the shadows, freezing the blood completely solid in my veins.
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The main overhead lights abruptly flickered on, completely blinding me for a fraction of a second.
Owen was sitting casually in a leather armchair in the corner of the room, holding a glass of amber whiskey, his dark eyes fixed entirely on me.
