And saw Sarah’s handwriting.
A yellow sticky note, still attached to a photocopied invoice.
E—
If you are reading this, I ran out of time.
Trust the people they underestimated.
Especially the ones who clean up after powerful men.
His vision blurred.
He gripped the folder so hard the paper bent.
Lupita began to cry silently.
Naomi whispered, “She knew.”
Ethan forced himself to breathe.
There was more.
Beneath Sarah’s note was a sealed envelope.
His name written across the front.
Ethan opened it.
Inside was a flash drive taped to a photo.
The photo showed Sarah standing in the Grand Regent lobby three years earlier.
Beside her was Lupita.
Sarah looked fragile but smiling.
Lupita held a vase of red roses.
On the back, Sarah had written:
If they come for the hotel, they are really coming for what is under it.
Ethan stared at the words.
