Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN THEY WANTED TO BLAME
The hallway suddenly felt smaller.
A few minutes earlier, I had been the woman who saved Griffin Hales' life.
Now I was the woman everyone suspected.
Funny how quickly things changed when you didn't belong in the room.
The security officer held up the tablet showing the camera access records.
My name was there.
FAY LAWSON.
The letters stared back at me like they belonged to someone else.
"I didn't hack anything," I said.
My voice sounded weaker than I wanted.
Celeste crossed her arms.
"I believe you."
The words surprised everyone.
Including me.
Then she smiled.
"But believing someone and trusting them are two different things."
I felt anger rise in my chest.
"You are unbelievable."
Celeste tilted her head.
"Am I?"
She looked around the hallway.
"Everyone here knows one thing. You appeared out of nowhere. You made an accusation. And now we discover your name is connected to a security breach."
She stepped closer.
"How convenient."
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to tell everyone that I had spent the entire night arranging flowers while people like her played dangerous games.
But before I could respond, Griffin spoke.
"Enough."
His voice cut through the room.
Everyone stopped.
Griffin looked at the security officer.
"Explain."
The officer cleared his throat.
"The system shows that someone accessed several restricted cameras using a temporary employee credential."
"Temporary employee?" Griffin asked.
"Yes."
His eyes moved toward me.
"The credential was created under her name."
My heart sank.
"Created."
I repeated the word.
Not used.
Created.
Someone had made it look like me.
Griffin noticed the difference.
"Who created it?"
The officer hesitated.
"We're still investigating."
Marcus suddenly spoke.
"Griffin, this proves my point."
Everyone looked at him.
He continued.
"Someone is manipulating events. Fay may not be the person behind it, but someone used her identity."
I looked at him.
A strange feeling moved through me.
Because just hours ago, Marcus had been trying to silence me.
Now he was defending me.
Why?
Griffin noticed too.
"Why are you helping her now?"
Marcus didn't answer immediately.
Then he said:
"Because I know what it's like to be framed."
The room became quiet.
There was pain in his voice.
Real pain.
Before anyone could ask more, Griffin's phone rang.
He answered.
"Yes?"
His expression changed.
"What do you mean the laboratory results are missing?"
Everyone froze.
The champagne sample.
The evidence.
Gone.
Griffin ended the call.
"Someone broke into the security room."
I felt a cold chill.
"They're destroying evidence."
Griffin looked at me.
"No."
His voice became serious.
"They're controlling the story."
Then every screen in the hotel suddenly turned on.
The ballroom.
The hallway.
The lobby.
Every television showed the same thing.
A video.
A video of me walking through the VIP corridor.
The guests watching from the ballroom gasped.
But then the video changed.
The timestamp moved.
And suddenly it showed something impossible.
Me.
Standing outside Griffin's private office.
Three days earlier.
I had never been there.
I had never even entered this hotel before that night.
But the video showed me doing exactly that.
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And underneath the footage appeared a message:
THIS IS THE WOMAN WHO PLANNED THE ATTACK.
