Chapter 5 - Forty Million Dollars Went Missing
Alexander did not know about forty million dollars.
That fact terrified Thomas more than any accusation.
“You told her?” Thomas shouted.
Vanessa recoiled.
The deputy pushed him back.
Alexander watched.
“What forty million?”
Nobody answered.
He turned to Hale.
The doctor looked away.
To Vanessa.
She wiped her face.
“Thomas said money had moved through one of the infrastructure subsidiaries.”
“How much?”
“Forty million.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“Before your accident.”
Alexander thought back.
Three days before the crash, his CFO, Martin Shaw, had requested a private meeting.
Martin said he found irregular payments associated with a Colorado rail project.
Alexander planned to review them before the investor retreat.
Martin never made it to Aspen.
He resigned the morning after Alexander’s crash.
Or supposedly resigned.
Alexander had received a short email.
Personal reasons. Immediate departure.
He had been too injured to investigate.
Thomas took over daily operations.
Alexander looked at his brother.
“Where is Martin?”
Thomas said nothing.
Alexander’s pulse rose.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You accepted his resignation.”
“Yes.”
“Did you speak to him?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Silence.
Emma stepped closer.
“Sir?”
Alexander turned.
She held the envelope.
“There’s a bank transfer with the name Shaw Consulting.”
Alexander grabbed it.
$2.4 million.
Paid from Vale Infrastructure.
Authorized six days after the crash.
Recipient: Shaw Consulting LLC.
Alexander frowned.
Martin had no company by that name.
At least not one Alexander knew.
Thomas said, “He was paid severance.”
“Two point four million?”
“He had information that could damage the company.”
Alexander stared.
“You paid him to disappear.”
“No.”
“What did he know?”
Thomas looked tired now.
Not cornered.
Almost defeated.
“Dad’s trust.”
Alexander froze.
Their father, Richard Vale, had died ten years earlier.
He left controlling family shares in a trust designed to prevent either brother from selling the company without the other.
Alexander had always believed Thomas resented that structure.
“What about it?”
Thomas looked toward the floor.
“The trust owns land.”
“What land?”
“Not listed in the public holdings.”
Alexander’s frustration rose.
“Stop speaking in pieces.”
Thomas finally looked at him.
“Mineral rights.”
Alexander stared.
“To what?”
“A lithium deposit in Nevada.”
The room went silent.
Lithium rights tied to a hidden land parcel could be worth far more than forty million.
Potentially billions.
Alexander asked, “Did Dad know?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t I?”
“You were supposed to.”
“When?”
“On your fortieth birthday.”
Alexander was thirty-nine when the crash happened.
He turned forty in the wheelchair.
No one had told him.
Thomas continued.
“Dad left sealed instructions.”
“Where?”
“With Martin.”
Alexander’s stomach dropped.
The CFO had not simply discovered missing money.
He had been custodian of their father’s instructions.
“What did the instructions say?”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“You really don’t know.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“Know what?”
“The rights don’t belong to the company.”
“Then who?”
Thomas’s eyes hardened.
“You.”
Alexander stared.
Thomas continued.
“Personally.”
The inheritance had been structured to transfer the lithium property directly to Alexander at forty.
Thomas received separate assets.
But the lithium discovery exploded in value after their father’s death.
Thomas’s resentment had grown with it.
Vanessa whispered, “You said it belonged to both of you.”
Thomas ignored her.
Alexander looked at his brother.
“So the forty million?”
“Advance development contracts.”
“You spent against property you didn’t own.”
Thomas said nothing.
“And my investor meeting?”
“Martin was going to tell you.”
Alexander felt cold.
“You needed one day.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“To move the contracts.”
“To hide the money.”
“To fix it.”
Alexander laughed without humor.
“By stopping me from reaching Aspen?”
Thomas did not answer.
Vanessa whispered, “He said your car would just fail to start.”
Alexander turned.
She continued.
“He asked for your garage code.”
His memory flashed.
Vanessa standing in the kitchen the morning before his trip.
Asking whether the new security keypad worked.
He had given her the code.
Thomas said, “I did not sabotage the brakes.”
Alexander stared at him.
“Then what did you do?”
Thomas’s voice cracked.
“I told someone to disable the car.”
“Who?”
He shook his head.
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward Dr. Hale.
Alexander followed his gaze.
Hale went pale.
The doctor was not a mechanic.
But Hale had a brother.
Nathan Hale.
Owner of a luxury automotive service center.
The same center that had serviced Alexander’s car three days before the crash.
Alexander remembered the invoice.
Vale Executive Auto.
He turned to Marcus Hale.
“Your brother.”
Hale said nothing.
Alexander whispered, “What did Nathan do to my car?”
Before Hale could answer, the sheriff received a call.
He listened.
Then looked at Alexander.
“Nathan Hale was found dead this morning.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Thomas closed his eyes.
The sheriff continued.
“And there was a note beside him.”
Alexander’s pulse hammered.
“What did it say?”
May you like
The sheriff answered:
I should have finished the job the first time.
