Chapter 35 - The First Betrayal
After several hours reviewing the underground collection, Catherine unlocked a narrow wooden drawer built into an old desk.
Unlike every previous archive, this drawer contained no photographs.
Only handwritten meeting minutes.
Samuel immediately recognized the notebooks.
"We stopped writing these after..."
He fell silent.
Catherine finished the sentence.
"...after the first betrayal."
The room became noticeably quieter.
Elena looked from one face to another.
"No one has mentioned a betrayal before."
Harold folded his arms.
"Because we never proved it."
Michael slowly sat down.
"We suspected."
"We argued."
"We doubted each other."
"But we never found evidence."
Catherine placed one notebook before Elena.
Across the first page appeared a heading.
Emergency Meeting — Confidential
Below it, someone had summarized a heated discussion from decades earlier.
One supply cache had been emptied before a major flood response.
Medical equipment had vanished.
Vehicles scheduled for rescue operations never arrived.
Volunteers reached the disaster hours late.
Several civilians lost their lives.
No one could explain why.
Harold quietly closed his eyes.
"We believed it was an accident."
Catherine shook her head.
"It wasn't."
Michael looked toward her.
"You found proof?"
"I found something better."
She opened another folder.
Inside rested a payroll ledger.
Every payment had been carefully recorded.
Except one.
One unusually large withdrawal appeared without authorization.
No signature.
No explanation.
Only an unfamiliar set of initials.
R.K.
Samuel frowned.
"That name means nothing."
Catherine nodded.
May you like
"Not yet."
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