Chapter 13 - The Digital Ghost
Daniel knew they couldn't just run out the front door; Elias would hunt them down before they even reached the highway.
He needed a distraction, something massive enough to pull Elias away from the primary security monitors.
Late that night, when the house was completely silent, Daniel crept out of his bedroom and headed for the basement.
He had noticed a heavy steel door near the wine cellar that Elias kept strictly locked at all times.
It was the main server room, the digital brain that controlled the estate's cameras, gates, and internal communications.
Daniel didn't have the key, but he didn't need one.
Richard had forced him to take advanced engineering and coding classes since he was ten years old, preparing him for the corporate world.
Daniel pulled a small, flathead screwdriver from his pocket, unscrewed the digital keypad on the wall, and carefully crossed the internal wires.
The heavy steel door popped open with a quiet, satisfying click.
Daniel slipped inside the freezing, glowing room and immediately connected his personal laptop to the main server rack.
He bypassed Elias’s elementary security firewall in less than three minutes, gaining full administrative access to the entire estate.
He didn't just want a distraction; he wanted insurance.
Daniel quickly downloaded the entire archive of the house's internal audio recordings, capturing months of private conversations.
He put on his headphones and rapidly scrubbed through the files, searching for anything incriminating.
He found it in an audio file recorded just three days ago in Elena's private office.
“The boy signs the transfer papers on Friday morning,” Elena's voice echoed through the headphones, cold and ruthless.
“And the girl?” Elias's deep voice asked.
“Carbon monoxide leak in the guest house on Friday night. A tragic, unavoidable accident. We will mourn them, take the cash, and disappear to Switzerland,” Elena replied smoothly.
Daniel’s hands shook as he copied the horrifying audio files onto a small, encrypted USB drive.
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He had the absolute, undeniable proof he needed to put his own mother in federal prison for the rest of her life.
Now, he just had to survive long enough to hand it over to the authorities.
