“You think you can just stroll in and rob me? From my own desk drawer?!” Richard’s voice thundered, laced with fury.
Danielle shook her head frantically, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Mr.
Caldwell, please! I swear, I didn’t take anything. I would never”
“Don’t li:e to me!” Richard cut her off sharply.
“I caught you red-handed with my wallet!”
The staff standing nearby exchanged uneasy glances. They had all seen Danielle cleaning near Richard’s office earlier that morning. None had witnessed her taking anything, but the missing money seemed to seal her fate.
“Sir, please,” Danielle pleaded, her hands trembling. “I only found the wallet on the floor and it must have fallen. I was just going to return it”
“Enough!” Richard snapped, gesturing to the guards.
“Get her out. She’s done here.”
The security men grabbed Danielle’s arms as she cried out helplessly. Shame burned through her, her body shaking as the office blurred around her.
She wanted to protest, but how could she fight a man like Richard Caldwell? He was powerful, feared, and utterly beyond reach. As the grand doors slammed behind her, Danielle felt her world crumble.
She had lost her job, her dignity, and perhaps her brother’s future and all for a crime she didn’t commit.
But neither she nor Richard knew that a small black dome camera in the corner had seen everything. And soon, the truth would surface.
That evening, Richard paced his study, his nerves raw.
He poured himself a glass of scotch, but even the smoky warmth couldn’t ease the guilt tugging at him. He prided himself on logic and evidence yet Danielle’s terrified face repeated in his mind. “She seemed… too sincere to be lying,” he muttered.
His butler, Charles Whitman, entered quietly. After thirty years of service, he spoke with the calm of a man who had seen everything. “Sir,” Charles said evenly, “I’ve known Danielle since she started.
She’s diligent and honest to a fault. I find it hard to believe she’d risk everything for a handful of bills.”
Richard frowned. “Are you recommending I was wrong?”
“I’m suggesting that anger can cloud judgment,” Charles replied.
“And if I recall, your office is under surveillance like the rest of the estate.”
Richard froze. The cameras. His own security system—how had he forgotten?
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
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