Chapter 5 - The Room Above the Ballroom
Police secured the basement.
Victoria remained in the ballroom.
By the time I returned upstairs, half the guests had left despite my warning.
The others stood in quiet groups, speaking into phones.
My mother had moved from the floor to a gold chair near the stage.
An ice pack rested against her cheek.
She looked regal again.
Only the rage in her eyes revealed the fracture.
“Where is Sophia?” she asked.
“With her mother.”
“You violated a custody order.”
“The police are reviewing it.”
Victoria looked toward Marcus.
He stood near the doorway with a split lip and an officer beside him.
For the first time, I saw disappointment in her expression.
Not because he had harmed Elena.
Because he had failed to hide it.
I walked toward the stage.
The seven-tier cake towered behind her.
Sugar flowers curled around Victoria’s initials.
“Open the executive suite,” I told Thomas.
Victoria smiled.
“You no longer have access.”
Thomas entered his old master code into the ballroom tablet.
The system denied him.
Marcus had replaced every administrative credential.
I looked toward the hotel’s technology director.
She stood beside the control table.
“Ms. Park.”
Her face tightened.
“Open the suite.”
Victoria spoke first.
“You will lose your job.”
Ms. Park looked at Sophia’s moldy bread still lying beside the service doors.
Then she entered an emergency override.
The executive suite occupied the floor above the ballroom.
Victoria had used it as a private office for years.
Inside, fresh flowers covered the tables.
A silver evening gown hung near the bedroom.
The bathroom held imported cosmetics worth more than Elena had received in eleven months.
Thomas searched the desk.
The drawers were empty.
Ms. Park examined the computer.
“The hard drive was removed.”
A wall panel behind the minibar stood slightly open.
I pulled it aside.
A hidden room occupied the space between the suite and the ballroom lighting booth.
Monitors covered one wall.
They displayed the hotel lobby, staff entrances, basement corridors, and several private guest rooms.
Victoria had been watching everyone.
One screen showed Elena folding sheets in the laundry room.
Another showed Sophia sleeping beneath a table.
The recordings were dated.
Months of abuse had been archived like routine business.
Thomas sat down.
“I did not know this room existed.”
Ms. Park connected an external drive.
She began copying the system.
The files contained more than surveillance.
There were folders named after board members, judges, politicians, and hotel employees.
Each held private conversations recorded without consent.
My mother had built her influence through blackmail.
One folder carried my name.
Inside were edited recordings of my calls from Singapore.
The original conversations sounded normal.
The edited versions made me appear drunk, unstable, and threatening.
Another folder held video of Elena trying to escape the basement.
Marcus caught her near the loading dock.
He dragged her back by the arm.
Then Victoria entered the frame.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Make sure Grant never sees this.”
I turned toward my brother.
He stood in the doorway.
His face was empty.
Then Ms. Park opened the newest file.
It showed Victoria speaking with Conrad that morning.
“If Grant finds Elena, we use the custody order.”
“And if the child talks?”
May you like
Victoria answered without hesitation.
“Children forget when they are frightened enough.”
