Chapter 5 - The Envelope That Was Never Meant to Be FoundIsabelle Delacroix had always seemed harmless.
She organized charity dinners.
Collected antique porcelain.
Remembered birthdays.
She spoke softly, dressed elegantly, and rarely expressed an opinion about anything controversial.
Genevieve had considered her a friend.
Now that friendship seemed like another carefully constructed illusion.
Marianne enlarged the security photograph.
The date in the corner read September 18, 2026.
Three weeks earlier.
Alexandre studied Isabelle's expression.
“She looks nervous.”
Sofia leaned closer.
“Claire looks angry.”
Genevieve stared at the screen.
“Why would Isabelle pretend to be me?”
Marianne shook her head.
“I don't know. Claire refused to discuss the meeting afterward.”
“Did she say anything at all?” Sofia asked.
Marianne hesitated.
“She said she had finally discovered who arranged her adoption.”
Genevieve felt her heart pound.
“Who?”
“She wouldn't tell me.”
Alexandre took a photograph of the screen.
“We need to speak to Isabelle.”
Genevieve shook her head.
“Not yet.”
Alexandre turned.
“Mom, she impersonated you.”
“I know.”
“Then why wait?”
“Because if Victor is involved, they may destroy whatever evidence remains.”
Sofia looked at Genevieve with surprise.
For the first time, the older woman was thinking beyond her own fear.
Genevieve noticed.
“I know you don't trust me,” she said quietly.
Sofia did not answer.
“You have every reason not to.”
Sofia looked down.
“Trust isn't something you can ask someone to give you.”
Genevieve nodded.
“No. It isn't.”
They returned to Lyon that evening.
Alexandre contacted a former university friend, Thomas Renard, who now worked as an investigative attorney.
Thomas listened carefully as Alexandre explained the documents, the fire, Claire's disappearance, and Victor's involvement.
When Alexandre finished, Thomas remained silent.
Then he said, “You need to stop treating this like a family dispute.”
Alexandre frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“This involves potential fraud, falsified medical records, unlawful adoption practices, and possibly homicide.”
Genevieve closed her eyes.
Thomas continued.
“And if someone is missing, we need to preserve every piece of evidence immediately.”
Alexandre nodded.
“What do we do?”
“First, make copies of everything. Second, don't confront Victor or Isabelle. Third, file a formal report concerning Claire's disappearance.”
Sofia looked relieved.
Finally, someone was treating Claire as a person in danger rather than a mystery to be solved.
Thomas examined the surveillance footage.
He paused on the image of Victor carrying the metal container.
“Interesting.”
Alexandre leaned forward.
“What?”
“The timestamp.”
“Eleven forty-three.”
“Yes. But according to the official fire report, the fire began at eleven twenty.”
Genevieve frowned.
“Then Victor arrived afterward.”
“Possibly.”
Sofia stared at the screen.
“Or the report is wrong.”
Thomas nodded.
“Exactly.”
He examined another document.
Then he noticed something.
“Alexandre, where did you get this?”
“The copy Victor gave me.”
Thomas held up Henri's authorization form.
“The handwriting beneath the signature is different.”
Alexandre looked closer.
The note authorizing work despite remaining occupants appeared darker than the rest of the document.
“Could it have been added later?”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
Genevieve looked up.
“Victor may have forged it?”
“We can't know without examining the original.”
Alexandre stood.
“Then I'll get it.”
Thomas raised a hand.
“Not alone.”
But Alexandre had already made up his mind.
That night, he returned to Beaumont Holdings.
The offices were nearly empty.
Only security personnel remained.
Alexandre entered his father's former office, which had been kept exactly as Henri left it.
The desk.
The leather chair.
The shelves of business books.
A photograph of Alexandre graduating from university.
Another of Genevieve standing beside Henri at a charity event.
Alexandre sat behind the desk.
For years, he had believed his father was a complicated but honorable man.
Now he was discovering that Henri had lived inside a web of secrets.
Some of his own making.
Others created by people he trusted.
Alexandre opened the desk drawers.
Nothing.
He examined the filing cabinets.
Nothing.
Then he noticed a small brass key taped beneath the desk.
A note was attached.
For Alexandre, when he is ready.
His breath caught.
Henri had left it for him.
Alexandre searched the office.
The key did not fit any visible lock.
Then he remembered the old cabinet in the adjoining private library.
Henri had always kept it locked.
Alexandre inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
Inside were three leather-bound folders.
The first contained documents concerning Saint-Claire.
The second contained hospital records relating to Elise.
The third was labeled:
Delacroix — confidential.
Alexandre opened it.
Bank statements.
Corporate transfers.
Photographs.
And a handwritten letter from Henri.
He read the first paragraph.
Victor, I know what you did.
I know you falsified the evacuation certificate.
I know you diverted the relocation funds.
And I know why you needed the Saint-Claire building destroyed.
Alexandre's pulse quickened.
He turned the page.
But I also know something worse.
You arranged for my daughter to be taken from the hospital.
Alexandre stopped breathing.
May you like
The next sentence made his blood run cold.
“And you did it because Elise was not the child you were trying to hide.”
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