Chapter 11 - The Enemy in the Shadows
Daniel didn't panic. He stared at the screen with cold, calculating precision.
"Who else is there?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly. "If Vance is in jail, who is sending threats?"
"Vance was the face of the takeover," Daniel muttered, typing furiously on his own secure phone. "But he was never smart enough to pull off the financial hacking required to freeze my accounts three years ago. He had a silent partner."
"And you don't know who it is?"
"I have suspicions," Daniel said, standing up and pacing the room. "I spent two years tracing digital ghosts. The trail always went cold at a shell company called Apex Holdings."
I sat up straighter, the name triggering a memory from my own work. "Apex Holdings? Daniel, that's the parent company of the firm my father works for."
Daniel stopped pacing. He looked at me, his eyes wide with sudden realization.
"Your father," Daniel said slowly. "Richard."
"My father is greedy and selfish," I shook my head, "but he's not a criminal mastermind. He couldn't hack a toaster."
"No, but he has access," Daniel argued, piecing the puzzle together aloud. "If Vance needed a legitimate front to funnel the embezzled Vanguard money, a desperate, bankrupt firm run by a man desperate for status would be the perfect vehicle."
The pieces fell into place with sickening clarity. My parents' sudden desperation to marry me off to Marcus. Their fury when I chose a "homeless" man. Their immediate attempt to capitalize on Daniel's identity yesterday.
"They weren't just embarrassed by you," I whispered, feeling physically ill. "They were terrified. If they knew you were alive, they knew you would eventually look into the accounts."
"They didn't know I was alive until yesterday," Daniel corrected softly. "But someone else at that wedding did. The person who sent this text."
"Marcus," we both said at the exact same time.
"Marcus used Vanguard code," Daniel said, his eyes narrowing. "He couldn't have gotten it without inside access. He was the middleman between Vance and your father's firm."
I grabbed my clothes. The honeymoon was definitely on hold.
"Where are we going?" Daniel asked as I started pulling on a pair of jeans.
May you like
"To my father's office," I said grimly. "We're going to find the paper trail before Marcus destroys it. We said we were a team. Let's go end this."
Daniel smiled, a fierce, proud expression. He grabbed his coat. "Lead the way, Mrs. Carter."
