Chapter 2 - Someone Needed Vaughn RemovedTristan showed the message to no one at first.
He simply stared.
The photograph was clear.
Vaughn leaving Carroway Holdings headquarters at 4:17 p.m.
Dark suit.
Leather briefcase.
Phone in hand.
The image had been taken from inside a vehicle.
Through glass.
Close enough to identify him.
Far enough to avoid notice.
“Tristan?”
Celeste moved closer.
“What is it?”
He turned the screen toward Vaughn.
His father studied it.
The anger disappeared from Vaughn’s face.
Not replaced by fear.
By recognition.
“You’ve seen this before,” Tristan said.
Vaughn looked up.
“Not this photo.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Maren approached.
“Dad?”
Vaughn exhaled.
“For the last two weeks, I’ve seen the same gray SUV near the office.”
Tristan’s jaw tightened.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I didn’t know whether it mattered.”
“Someone is photographing you.”
“I know that now.”
Odette was quietly moving toward the doorway.
Maren noticed.
“Where are you going?”
Odette stopped.
“I need air.”
Tristan blocked the door.
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“You can’t hold me here.”
“I’m not holding you.”
He stepped aside just enough to make the point.
“But if you walk out before explaining that call, I send the recording to police immediately.”
Odette looked at him.
“You wouldn’t.”
Tristan almost smiled.
“You accused my father of sexual assault.”
Her face tightened.
“I said I panicked.”
“You staged it.”
“I know.”
“You tried to make me attack him.”
She looked away.
Vaughn spoke quietly.
“Let her go.”
Tristan turned.
“What?”
“If she leaves, whoever sent those messages may contact her.”
Odette’s face betrayed her.
Vaughn saw it.
“So there is someone else.”
She whispered:
“I told you.”
“No,” Vaughn said. “You told us nothing.”
Celeste folded her arms.
“Who is helping you?”
Odette looked around the room.
Everyone she had spent years charming now looked like a jury.
“I didn’t start this.”
Tristan’s expression hardened.
“Then who did?”
Silence.
Vaughn said:
“Richard?”
Odette flinched.
Tristan noticed.
“Richard who?”
Vaughn kept his eyes on her.
“Richard Vale.”
Tristan frowned.
He knew the name.
A corporate lawyer.
Former outside counsel for Carroway Holdings.
Brilliant.
Aggressive.
And fired by Vaughn eighteen months earlier after a dispute involving acquisition documents.
“What does Richard have to do with my wife?”
Odette said nothing.
Vaughn’s voice lowered.
“He introduced you two.”
Tristan looked between them.
“No.”
Odette shook her head quickly.
“We met at a charity gala.”
“Hosted by Richard’s client,” Vaughn replied.
Tristan felt cold.
He remembered.
Odette had been working in luxury event planning.
Richard had introduced her to several guests that night.
Maybe not directly to Tristan.
But he had placed them in the same room.
“Did Richard send you to me?”
Odette’s face crumpled.
“No.”
Tristan stared.
“That wasn’t immediate enough.”
“I met you by chance.”
“Did Richard know who I was?”
“Of course.”
“Did he know you?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
She hesitated.
“Years.”
Tristan stepped back.
“How many?”
“Six.”
They had been married for three.
Together for four.
Richard knew Odette before Tristan did.
“What was he to you?”
“Family friend.”
Vaughn laughed without humor.
“Richard Vale has no friends.”
Odette snapped:
“You think you know everyone.”
“I know him.”
“He helped my family.”
“With what?”
She stopped.
Tristan saw it.
Leverage.
Whatever Richard had done for her family mattered.
“What did he do?”
Odette looked away.
“My brother.”
“Your brother Ethan?”
“Yes.”
Tristan had met Ethan twice.
Always nervous.
Always leaving quickly.
“What about him?”
“He had a gambling problem.”
Tristan frowned.
“How bad?”
“Bad enough.”
“Debt?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
She whispered:
“Four hundred thousand.”
Celeste gasped.
Tristan stared.
“Four hundred thousand dollars?”
“More by the end.”
“And Richard paid it?”
“He arranged it.”
“For nothing?”
Odette began crying.
“At first.”
There it was.
The word that always came before the truth.
“At first.”
Tristan asked:
“When did he start asking for things?”
“After we got engaged.”
“What things?”
“Information.”
“About what?”
“Your father.”
Vaughn showed no surprise.
Tristan did.
“What information?”
“Schedules. Meetings. People he talked to.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t know.”
“That is a lie.”
“I didn’t know at first.”
Tristan clenched his jaw.
“And later?”
Odette looked toward Vaughn.
“He believed your father had evidence.”
Vaughn went still.
“Evidence of what?”
Odette hesitated.
Then:
“The Hartwell acquisition.”
Vaughn’s face changed.
Tristan noticed immediately.
“What is Hartwell?”
Vaughn didn’t answer.
“Dad.”
“An acquisition we rejected.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Why does Richard care?”
Vaughn looked at Odette.
She answered.
“Because it wasn’t really rejected.”
Tristan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Odette swallowed.
“The deal happened through another company.”
Vaughn’s expression became colder.
“Who told you that?”
“Richard.”
“He’s lying.”
“No.”
“He is.”
Odette shook her head.
“He showed me records.”
Tristan looked at his father.
“Dad?”
Vaughn’s silence became dangerous.
“Was there another company?”
After several seconds, Vaughn said:
“Yes.”
Tristan stared.
“What company?”
“Bellwether Capital.”
“Who owns it?”
Vaughn looked at him.
“That’s the problem.”
A pause.
“On paper, no one in this family.”
Tristan felt a knot in his stomach.
Vaughn continued.
“But the money used to fund Bellwether came from Carroway.”
Celeste sat down.
Maren whispered:
“That sounds illegal.”
“It may have been.”
Tristan stared at his father.
“You did it?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Vaughn looked at Odette.
“I’ve spent six months trying to answer that.”
Odette went pale.
Tristan understood.
That was what she meant.
What Vaughn was about to discover.
Someone had secretly moved Carroway money into a shell company years earlier.
Vaughn was close to finding out who.
And Odette’s job tonight had been to make sure he lost control before he could.
Then Vaughn said:
“The audit finishes tomorrow morning.”
Odette closed her eyes.
Tristan stared.
“And what does it reveal?”
May you like
Vaughn’s answer was quiet.
“Whoever has been stealing from this family for at least seven years.”
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