Chapter 4 - THE MAN I TRUSTED WITH EVERYTHING
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Marcus stared at his own name on the screen.
Naomi stared at Marcus.
I stared at the man who had helped me build CipherStone from nothing.
The transfer was for $180,000.
Paid six months earlier.
Recipient.
MARCUS LEE CONSULTING LLC.
Marcus sat back.
“I have never seen this.”
Naomi’s expression turned glacial.
“You expect us to believe someone accidentally transferred one hundred eighty thousand dollars to a company carrying your name?”
“It isn’t my company.”
“Then whose is it?”
“I don’t know.”
I studied him.
Marcus could lie.
Everyone could.
Jason had proven that.
My mother had proven it.
My sister had proven it for a year.
Trust had stopped being evidence.
“Show me your company registration.”
“I don’t have a consulting company.”
“Then prove it.”
He looked hurt.
That did not matter.
He opened several databases.
His actual holding company had a different name.
The company receiving my mother’s transfer had been incorporated in Nevada using Marcus’s full legal name and an old residential address.
Identity theft.
Naomi leaned closer.
“Who knew that address?”
Marcus looked at me.
“CipherStone HR.”
My stomach tightened.
“And?”
“You.”
“Anyone else?”
He thought.
“Olivia.”
The evidence pointed back toward my assistant.
The anonymous sender had told us not to look at her.
Either the sender knew something.
Or the sender wanted Olivia protected.
Marcus opened the shell company’s registration documents.
The electronic filing had been submitted from an IP address masked through a commercial VPN.
But the recovery email had one visible clue.
The last two characters before the domain were “27.”
Marcus frowned.
“Could be anything.”
Naomi looked at me.
I was already thinking of Sydney.
Her birthday.
April 27.
No.
Too easy.
Jason’s old football number.
Twenty-seven.
Also easy.
Then I remembered something else.
My parents had married on May 27.
The number followed our family everywhere.
Mom used it in passwords when I was young.
Bank pins.
Alarm codes.
Wi-Fi.
Twenty-seven.
“This is Mom.”
Naomi did not disagree.
My phone rang.
Terrence.
I stepped away from the table.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
His honesty surprised me.
Behind his voice, I heard traffic.
“Where are you?”
“Driving.”
“Don’t drive angry.”
“I’m not angry.”
He paused.
“I don’t know what I am.”
I understood that feeling.
He continued.
“Sydney keeps calling.”
“So does my mother.”
“She says Jason isn’t the father.”
I looked toward Marcus.
“Do you believe her?”
“No.”
Another pause.
“She says there was someone else too.”
That stopped me.
“What?”
“Sydney says the recording made it sound like she and Jason were waiting to be together.”
“It did.”
“She says that’s not what your mother meant.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Another secret.
“What does she claim Mom meant?”
“She won’t tell me unless I meet her.”
“Don’t go alone.”
“Meline.”
“I mean it.”
He exhaled.
“You really think your family is dangerous?”
I looked at the forged signature.
The shell companies.
The stolen cybersecurity records.
“Yes.”
That was no longer an emotional answer.
It was evidence.
Terrence agreed to meet Sydney at his attorney’s office.
Two hours later, he called me again.
His voice was different.
Flat.
Focused.
“She told me.”
“What?”
“The baby.”
My chest tightened.
“Jason?”
“Yes.”
I waited.
“But that wasn’t the secret she was protecting.”
I leaned against the table.
“What was?”
Terrence spoke slowly.
“Your mother promised Sydney and Jason money after the loan closed.”
“How much?”
“Three million.”
I laughed once without humor.
Of course.
My wedding came with commissions.
“Why?”
“So Jason would marry you.”
I stopped breathing for a second.
Terrence continued.
“Your mother found out about their affair before you got engaged.”
I already suspected that.
“She gave them a choice.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“What choice?”
“End the affair permanently.”
“Or?”
“Use it.”
That sentence made no sense until Terrence explained.
My mother knew my father’s business was collapsing.
She knew my credit history was excellent.
She knew I had money, though she apparently still believed I was merely a well-paid employee.
But she also knew I would never guarantee one of Dad’s loans voluntarily.
Not after the previous bailout.
So she needed leverage.
A husband.
Jason.
Mom promised Sydney and Jason that if Jason married me, helped secure my signature, and remained married long enough for the financing to clear, he would receive part of the loan proceeds through Cedar Meridian.
Then, eventually, he could divorce me.
Sydney and Jason would be free to be together.
My sister had agreed to let her lover marry me as part of a financial fraud.
And my mother had negotiated the arrangement.
Terrence whispered.
“They were going to make you think the divorce was your fault.”
I felt something inside me settle.
Not break.
Settle.
Like concrete.
“How?”
“Jason was supposed to create evidence that you were having an affair.”
Naomi saw my expression.
She moved closer.
Terrence continued.
“Photos.”
“Fake?”
“Yes.”
“Emails?”
“Yes.”
My eyes went to Marcus.
He had gone pale.
“Terrence.”
“Yeah?”
“Did Sydney say who was helping them make the fake evidence?”
Silence.
Then he answered.
“She gave me a first name.”
I already knew.
“Olivia?”
“No.”
I closed my eyes.
“What name?”
“Marcus.”
I looked directly at him.
He stared back.
Terrence continued.
“She said Jason told her a man named Marcus at your company was helping them.”
Marcus slowly shook his head.
“I never—”
I raised my hand.
He stopped.
Terrence heard him.
“Is he there?”
“Yes.”
“You trust him?”
Yesterday, I would have said completely.
Today, I had learned what completely could cost.
“I don’t know.”
After we hung up, Marcus stood.
“I didn’t do this.”
“Then someone wanted Sydney to believe you did.”
“Or she’s lying.”
Naomi nodded.
“Both are possible.”
Marcus paced once across the room.
“Give me twenty minutes.”
“For what?”
“To prove someone has been building a digital identity around me.”
He sat at the laptop.
Nineteen minutes later, he found three accounts.
A consulting company.
A private email address.
And a cryptocurrency wallet.
All under his name.
All created in the last eight months.
Someone had not simply stolen his identity.
They had built a version of Marcus designed to become the fall guy.
Then Naomi noticed the dates.
The first fake Marcus account had been created eight months ago.
The same week my company received an anonymous job application.
The applicant was hired three weeks later.
An overnight engineer.
His name was Colin Avery.
I had never met him.
Marcus looked through employee records.
Then stopped.
“There.”
“What?”
“Emergency contact.”
He turned the screen.
Colin Avery had listed a woman named Rachel Cole.
Jason’s last name was Cole.
Naomi immediately began searching public records.
Thirty seconds later, she found the connection.
Rachel Cole was Jason’s aunt.
Colin Avery was Jason’s cousin.
The person inside CipherStone was not someone Jason bribed after meeting me.
Jason had planted someone inside my company eight months before the wedding.
Possibly before he proposed.
My phone buzzed again.
The anonymous sender.
NOW YOU’RE GETTING CLOSER.
I typed back for the first time.
WHO ARE YOU?
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
Then the reply arrived.
SOMEONE YOUR FATHER TRIED TO DESTROY TEN YEARS AGO.
May you like
Before I could respond, a second message came through.
AND IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOUR MOTHER REALLY NEEDED THAT LOAN, ASK WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR GRANDMOTHER’S MONEY.
