Chapter 17 - THE FIRST TIME
Adrian thought Owen meant Vanessa.
He didn't.
Owen was referring to a camera outage months earlier.
Before the cage.
Before the bruises.
Before anyone suspected anything.
Marcus reviewed old logs.
The first unexplained shutdown occurred the night Claire's trust records were copied.
The administrator account belonged to Marcus.
He stared at the screen.
"That's impossible."
Torres looked at him.
"Where were you?"
"At my daughter's wedding."
His badge had been cloned.
The person who used it knew the security architecture.
Only five people did.
One was Rebecca Shaw, the CFO.
Adrian felt tired before Torres even said her name.
Rebecca had helped freeze the merger.
She had given him evidence.
She had seemed loyal.
Police searched her office.
Empty.
Her home.
Empty.
Then they found a scheduled email from her to Owen.
IF VANESSA FAILS, I CAN STILL MOVE THE BOARD.
Adrian stared at it.
Rebecca had been inside the company for twelve years.
She knew Claire.
She knew Richard.
She knew every trust structure.
Torres found transfers from Mercer Capital into an offshore account linked to Rebecca.
Eight years of payments.
Rebecca had not joined the conspiracy.
She had been part of it before Vanessa.
Her job was to make the merger possible from inside.
Adrian called her.
She answered.
"I wondered when you'd figure it out."
"Where are you?"
"Safe."
"Why?"
Rebecca sighed.
"Because your family built a company on loyalty and called it governance. Mercer offered me actual ownership."
"So you helped Owen kill Claire?"
Silence.
"Rebecca."
"I moved the service appointment. I didn't know he would cut the hose."
"You knew after."
"Yes."
"And stayed beside me for five years."
"Yes."
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Where are you?"
She laughed softly.
"Look out the window."
May you like
Adrian turned.
Across the street from the temporary safe house, a black SUV was parked under a dead streetlight.
