I discovered the trap Charlotte had set against Drew, but after my warning her face suddenly turned pale

That night, when I smelled the sharp odor of gas in the old harbor warehouse, I realized that Charlotte was not simply trying to catch Drew—she intended to kill him.

The rain struck the iron roof as if someone were pounding on it with his fists from above. It was ten o’clock in the evening. I stood at the warehouse’s rear entrance, turning a small copper key in my hand. It had a crescent-shaped scratch, and I had carried it with me since childhood. That night, the metal was unusually cold.

I heard a voice from inside.

“Drew, you finally came,” Charlotte said.

I recognized Drew’s voice immediately.

“Tell me why you called me. Coming here at midnight is not normal.”

I leaned against the door and held my breath. Charlotte’s voice sounded calm, but something dangerous was hidden in her calmness.

“If you want your name to remain clean, you must listen to me.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No. I am giving you a chance to survive.”

Inside the warehouse, an old lamp flickered. Yellow light came from under the door, but the smell of gas was growing stronger and stronger. My nose began to burn, and my heart started beating rapidly.

I entered quietly.

Three large boxes stood on the left, and Drew’s jacket had been hung on one of them. His wallet lay on the floor. This was impossible—Drew never left his wallet behind. A few meters away, he sat on a chair, his hands free, but a weapon lay on the table in front of him.

Charlotte stood beside the table.

“We took all this from your bag,” she told him.

“My bag is at home.”

“You will explain that to the police.”

Drew stood up, but Charlotte immediately raised her hand.

“Do not move.”

“Something is not right here,” I said.

Both of them turned toward me. Surprise appeared on Charlotte’s face only for a moment, and then she regained her usual smile.

“Carly? What are you doing here?”

“A better question is: what are you doing here?”

Drew took one step toward me.

“Carly, this is a trap. She called me and told me she had an important document for me.”

“Not a document,” I interrupted. “All this is supposed to look like evidence against you.”

Charlotte laughed quietly.

“You are speaking very dramatically.”

“Did you smell the gas?”

Her smile stopped slightly.

I looked at the pipe attached to the ceiling. Beside it was a small silver valve. There were fresh scratches on the valve. Someone had turned it recently.

“Charlotte, if Drew stays here for a few more minutes, we may both die.”

“Then open the door and leave.”

“I am not leaving alone.”

“Carly, think,” Drew said quietly. “She planned all this in advance.”

Charlotte leaned toward the table and picked up the weapon. She had not aimed it at me yet, but her finger was close to the trigger.

“I am giving you one last warning, Carly. Do not interfere in this matter.”

“I have already interfered.”

I took my phone from my pocket and turned the screen toward her. The camera recording was still running.

The color changed in Charlotte’s face.

“What are you doing?”

“What you did not take into account. I am recording every word.”

Drew suddenly looked toward the ceiling.

“Carly, step back. Something is moving up there.”

Above, near the pipes, a small red light blinked. Charlotte seemed to hear its sound for the first time. Then she rushed to the wall and opened an old metal cabinet. Inside lay only one black folder.

“We were supposed to destroy this,” she said in a whisper.

“Who do you mean by ‘we’?” I asked.

Charlotte reached toward the folder. I was about to stop her, but at that moment the sound of heavy footsteps came from outside. Someone stopped in front of the door and fitted a key into the lock…

The door opened, and Mark, the head of security, entered. He held a wet umbrella in his hand, and the warehouse number was embroidered on his coat.

“Everyone on the floor!” he shouted.

“He does not have a weapon,” I told him. “But we are standing in gas.”

Mark immediately shut the valve. Within a few seconds the smell weakened, although I was still dizzy.

Charlotte tried to escape.

“Stop!” Drew shouted.

She grabbed the folder by the cabinet, but Mark seized her by the wrist.

“Is this yours?” he asked.

“I do not know what you are talking about.”

I raised my phone.

“Everything was recorded. How you brought Drew here, how you left the weapon, and how you turned on the gas.”

For the first time, Charlotte lost control.

“The recording means nothing! I will take your phone!”

“Try it, and you will confirm one more thing.”

Only one sheet of paper was visible in the folder. Drew’s signature was on it, but he immediately shook his head.

“That is not my signature.”

Mark illuminated the paper with a flashlight. In the lower corner of the sheet, a small stamp could be seen—the stamp of the same clinic where Charlotte had worked years earlier.

At that moment, a message arrived on my phone from an unknown number: “If you want the truth, come alone to the old clinic tomorrow morning. Drew’s life depends on your decision…”

As soon as I read the message, the phone nearly fell from my hand. It was eleven o’clock at night, and outside the warehouse the rain was still pouring heavily. Mark looked at the screen, while Drew immediately saw on my face that a new danger had appeared.

“Who wrote to you?” he asked.

“I do not know. But it mentions your life.”

Charlotte lowered her head. She no longer looked like a woman who was controlling the situation.

“Do not go to the clinic,” she said.

“Why?”

“Because everything will end there.”

“That is exactly why I am going.”

The old clinic was a ten-minute walk from the harbor. In the morning, at six o’clock, Drew, Mark, and I entered it. Wet plaster was falling in the corridor, and the clock hanging on the wall had stopped at six seventeen. Charlotte was already waiting for us there.

The black folder lay on the table.

“You were supposed to come alone,” she told me.

“You brought the witnesses yourself when you tried to kill Drew.”

“I did not want to kill him.”

“Then why did you release the gas?”

For the first time, Charlotte could not answer me.

Mark opened the folder. Inside were three sheets of paper, the old clinic seal, and a small memory card. My hand went cold. The paper said that Drew had stolen valuable medicines from the clinic basement and injured the night guard. His name and signature appeared below.

“This is forged,” Drew said.

“I know,” I answered.

“How?”

I picked up the memory card.

“Because the real recording is here.”

Mark turned on the old computer. The clinic basement appeared on the screen. The timestamp clearly showed two twelve at night. Drew did not appear in the frame at all. Instead, Charlotte entered, carrying a bag and turning her face away from the camera.

Drew’s eyes widened.

“That was you.”

“The camera was broken,” Charlotte whispered.

“No,” Mark said. “The footage was stored on the server. Only the monitor was temporarily turned off.”

Then Charlotte’s voice sounded on the screen:

“Tomorrow morning everyone will think that Drew stole the medicines. If he resists us, we will release gas in the warehouse and present everything as an accident.”

Silence fell over the room.

I listened to my own heartbeat. Charlotte stared at the screen as if she were hearing her own voice for the first time.

“Where did you get this recording?” she asked me.

“I did not have it. You forgot that the camera also recorded sound.”

Drew stood in front of her.

“Why did you do this to me?”

Charlotte bit her lips.

“You had to lose everything. Your job, your name, your life.”

“Why?”

“Because you knew about the clinic’s money.”

Mark took out the second sheet. It listed the sums transferred by Charlotte. For years, she had been transferring the clinic’s donations into her own account.

“You found these documents,” she said. “That is why I accused you.”

“And Carly?” Drew asked.

Charlotte looked toward me.

“I wanted to frighten Carly. I knew she would not remain silent. I knew she would turn on the camera.”

A chill ran down my back.

“So this was a trap for me too?”

Charlotte said nothing.

At that moment, Mark’s phone rang. He answered, listened for several seconds, and his face changed.

“They found a second device in the warehouse,” he said. “The timer is already on. And it is set for only one thing—for a message to arrive on my phone…”