Chapter 5 - Caroline Left A Northbridge Warning
Margaret placed the folder on the table.
Alexander recognized Caroline’s handwriting immediately.
His late wife had kept meticulous notes.
The folder contained meeting summaries from the final months of her life.
Northbridge Holdings appeared three times.
Caroline had been investigating an attempt to buy shares from her family’s medical technology company.
The buyer concealed its ownership through several shell entities.
Caroline suspected someone inside her family office was feeding Northbridge confidential information.
One note contained a name.
CALEB?
Alexander looked at Margaret.
“Why have I never seen this?”
“Because Caroline asked me to keep it until she finished checking the numbers.”
“She died before she did.”
Margaret nodded.
Caroline’s death had been sudden.
A highway collision during heavy rain.
Police found no evidence of sabotage.
Alexander had never questioned that conclusion.
He did not start now.
A suspicious folder did not turn an accident into murder.
But Caroline’s unfinished investigation might explain why Caleb returned.
Forensic accountants reviewed Ethan’s trust.
The trust still held a significant stake in the same medical technology company.
If Northbridge acquired those shares, it could gain enough voting power to influence a pending merger.
That merger was worth hundreds of millions.
Vanessa’s promised “temporary” transfer was not temporary at all.
It could change corporate control.
Sergeant Mitchell asked who benefited from Northbridge.
The ownership records led through Delaware, Nevada, and the Cayman Islands.
Then investigators found a domestic management company.
Its director was familiar.
Richard Cole.
Vanessa’s father.
Vanessa stared at the document.
“No.”
Alexander looked at her.
“You told me your father was retired.”
“He is.”
Richard Cole had once been a corporate attorney.
He also served as outside counsel to Caroline’s family office.
Margaret remembered him.
Caroline had disliked him.
Vanessa shook her head.
“My father introduced me to Caleb.”
The room went silent.
Alexander asked:
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Three years ago was shortly after Caroline’s death.
Vanessa and Alexander had supposedly met by chance at a charity dinner.
Now Vanessa admitted Richard had encouraged her to attend because Alexander would be there.
“I didn’t know why.”
Alexander’s expression changed.
Their entire relationship had just acquired a question mark.
Vanessa began crying.
“I swear I didn’t date you for Ethan’s trust.”
Alexander did not answer.
Love could be genuine and still grow inside manipulation.
Then Sergeant Mitchell received a call.
Caleb Price had been located.
Not in Arizona.
He was registered at a hotel twelve minutes from the mansion.
By the time deputies arrived, the room was empty.
But Caleb had left behind a laptop.
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And on it was a folder labeled:
PHASE TWO — ALEXANDER.
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