Chapter 12 - The Hidden Files
I waited until the digital clock on my nightstand flashed 2:00 AM.
The massive mansion was completely silent, filled only with the rhythmic sound of the pouring rain outside. I slipped out of my warm bed, leaving Nathan sleeping deeply beside me. I walked silently down the carpeted hallway and slipped into his private study.
My heart hammered violently against my ribs as I booted up his personal desktop computer. I knew his master password from the days we spent tracking down Dr. Evans's hidden bank accounts. The screen glowed to life, casting harsh shadows across the dark, luxurious room.
I opened his encrypted cloud drive and typed a single name into the search bar: David Miller.
For a terrifying second, the screen showed a loading icon. Then, a hidden folder labeled "Project Icarus" appeared on the screen. My hands shook as I clicked on the highly classified documents.
David wasn't just a random accountant working in the city. He had been a senior auditor for Cole Industries, Nathan's family company. I scrolled frantically through hundreds of internal emails and financial reports. My husband had discovered a massive cover-up involving illegal chemical dumping at one of their overseas manufacturing plants.
Tears blurred my vision as I read a specific medical report attached to the file. The highly toxic chemicals dumped by the company were directly linked to severe auditory nerve damage in the local water supply.
It was the exact same water supply our neighborhood relied on three years ago.
Cole Industries was the reason my sweet, innocent Sophia had lost her hearing.
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The final document in the folder was an internal security memo signed by Arthur Cole, Nathan's ruthless father. It explicitly ordered the corporate security team to "permanently silence the whistleblower before the press is alerted." The memo was dated just one day before David was killed in the hit-and-run.
I pressed my hands against my mouth to stop myself from screaming out loud. Nathan's family had murdered my husband. And Nathan had kept this horrific file hidden on his private server the entire time we were together.
