Chapter 7 - The Safe Holds Another Name
The encrypted drive could not be opened immediately.
Priya told Jessica not to touch it, not to guess passwords, and not to let Daniel convince anyone it contained privileged company data.
“It may contain evidence,” she said. “If we damage the encryption, we lose leverage.”
Daniel was escorted out after collecting clothes under supervision.
Before leaving, he stopped at the front door.
“Jessica.”
She did not answer.
He lowered his voice.
“You think Nora is helping me.”
Jessica looked at him.
“Isn’t she?”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“You have no idea what she’s doing.”
He walked away.
It sounded like manipulation.
Unfortunately, it also sounded true.
That evening, Jessica finally went to Rachel’s house.
Emilee ran into her arms so hard Jessica nearly lost balance.
For several minutes, there was no company.
No fraud.
No Daniel.
Only the smell of strawberry shampoo in her daughter’s hair.
Then Emilee whispered, “Are we going home?”
Jessica swallowed.
“Soon.”
“Is Dad there?”
“No.”
Emilee nodded against her shoulder.
“Good.”
Jessica hated the relief she felt.
After Emilee fell asleep, Marcus called.
Priya had found a legal path into the drive because one portion used a corporate recovery key.
They were meeting at Carter & Bloom’s outside counsel office.
Jessica left Emilee with Rachel and went.
Anna was already there.
“I remembered something,” she said.
She placed a hotel receipt on the table.
Daniel had paid for a suite in Boston three weeks earlier.
Anna had joined him for one night.
The receipt listed a second room charged to the same corporate account.
Jessica read the guest name.
Nora Blake.
Anna shook her head.
“I never saw her.”
“You were in the same hotel?”
“I didn’t know.”
Priya opened the first recovered folder from the drive.
It contained scanned passports.
Daniel’s.
Nora’s.
Anna’s.
And Jessica’s.
Anna stood.
“He had my passport?”
“A copy,” Priya said.
“I sent him a photo for the Lisbon booking he said we were taking after his divorce.”
Jessica looked at her.
“You were supposed to go to Lisbon?”
Anna nodded.
“He told me next month.”
Jessica understood.
Daniel had promised Anna Lisbon later.
But his actual one-way ticket with Nora was for today.
He never intended to take Anna anywhere.
Another folder held draft resignation letters for three Carter & Bloom board members.
The letters were unsigned.
The metadata showed they had been prepared by Nora.
Marcus frowned.
“If these directors were pushed out or compromised, Daniel and Nora could reshape the board.”
Jessica scanned the names.
One was her uncle Thomas, who had invested in the company when no bank would.
Another was Dr. Evelyn Park, the pediatric occupational therapist who had helped Jessica test her first product.
These were not random directors.
They were the people most likely to protect Jessica.
Then Priya opened a folder labeled ESCROW.
Inside was a spreadsheet dividing money.
Daniel Carter: 3.2 million.
Northstar reserve: 1.7 million.
Legal: 400,000.
N. Blake: 2.1 million.
Anna Reed: 184,000.
Except Anna’s amount had a red note beside it.
TEMPORARY HOLDER.
Anna stared.
“I was never supposed to keep it.”
Priya scrolled.
A second note appeared.
RECOVER AFTER INVESTIGATION STARTS.
Jessica felt sick.
“They planned to put money in her name, let investigators find it, then move it.”
Marcus nodded.
“Make her look like the outside recipient.”
Anna’s eyes filled with tears.
“I was the mistress and the fall guy.”
Jessica did not comfort her.
Not yet.
She was still too wounded.
But she believed her.
Then Priya found one more file.
A photograph of a bank safe-deposit inventory.
Daniel’s name was listed as authorized access.
So was Nora’s.
The box contained original share certificates, two corporate seals, a hardware wallet, and a sealed envelope.
The envelope had a handwritten instruction.
OPEN ONLY IF JESSICA REFUSES SETTLEMENT.
Marcus leaned toward the screen.
“Settlement of what?”
Jessica shook her head.
Priya enlarged the photograph.
Beneath the instruction was another line.
If J refuses, send the recording to D.C. Ledger.
Jessica’s stomach tightened.
The D.C. Ledger was a business publication.
“What recording?”
No one knew.
Then Jessica saw something else in the safe-deposit access log.
Daniel had entered the box twice.
Nora had entered it five times.
The latest access had been yesterday.
And on that line, another authorized name appeared.
A name Jessica had not expected.
May you like
Her company’s general counsel.
Calvin Price.
