Chapter 6 - The Missing Link
The numbers on the wire transfer receipts stared up at me from Victoria’s desk like a confession written in ink.
Eight months ago, right before Evelyn's convoy was ambushed on the lake service road, fifty thousand dollars had been transferred from Victoria’s personal account to an offshore shell company managed by Marcus Reed. The memo field was blank, but the routing number matched the exact subsidiary account Dr. Martin Vale used for his private medical acquisitions.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Marcus Vance’s direct line.
“Vance,” I said, my voice dangerously calm. “Where are you?”
“I’m still at the firm office wrapping up the asset freeze documentation,” Vance replied, sensing the shift in my tone immediately. “Ethan, what is it? Did you find something at the estate?”
“I found Victoria’s private lockbox,” I said, leaning back in the leather chair. “Files dating back eight months. Financial transfers linking my mother, Dr. Vale, and Marcus Reed to Evelyn Hart’s prenatal clinic records.”
Silence stretched across the phone line for several seconds.
“Evelyn Hart?” Vance asked cautiously. “Your former fiancée? The one who died in the crash?”
“The crash that was supposed to kill her and our unborn child,” I corrected, my jaw clenching so hard my teeth ached. “Vance, the ambush on the service road wasn't random. My family didn't just target Claire; they’ve been orchestrating eliminations for years. They tried to wipe out Evelyn’s bloodline because my father’s will stated that any direct heir would supersede Victoria’s control of the holding company.”
“My God,” Vance breathed. “If that’s true, then Marcus Reed wasn't just a corrupt security chief working for a rival syndicate... he was Victoria’s primary operative inside your inner circle.”
“And he’s currently sitting in a federal holding cell,” I said, standing up from the desk. “I’m heading down there right now. If Marcus wants to avoid spending the rest of his life in a maximum-security federal penitentiary for capital conspiracy, he’s going to tell me what really happened to Evelyn’s child on that service road.”
May you like
“Ethan, wait,” Vance warned. “Let me coordinate with the federal marshals before you question him. You can’t go in there alone.”
“I’m not going alone,” I said, sliding the folder into my coat pocket. “I’m going with the authority of the entire board, and a stack of wire transfers with my mother’s signature on them.”
