Chapter 17 - Claudia’s MoveSebastian wanted to hide Claudia.
She refused.
“I spent too much of my life being protected from information.”
“This is different.”
“It always feels different to the person doing the protecting.”
That ended the argument.
Claudia met federal investigators voluntarily.
She surrendered devices.
Financial records.
Passwords.
Everything.
Her attorney nearly had a stroke.
“You don’t hand investigators your entire life.”
Claudia smiled.
“Apparently I do.”
The forensic review found the weakness.
Her digital signature had been copied from documents stored inside Sebastian’s company network.
Only six people had administrative access.
Four were cleared.
Marcus was incarcerated.
Porsche no longer had access.
That left one person.
Sebastian’s new chief operating officer.
Nathan Cole.
The man Sebastian had hired specifically so he could spend more time with his family.
Sebastian stared at the report.
“No.”
Claudia touched the page.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Don’t defend someone because betrayal would hurt.”
He knew she was right.
Nathan was placed under surveillance.
For two days, nothing happened.
On the third, he drove to a motel outside Hartford.
A man entered his room.
Thomas Greer.
Alive.
Federal agents moved.
Greer ran.
Nathan didn’t.
By midnight, both were in custody.
Sebastian expected victory.
Instead, Nathan asked to speak to Claudia.
Not Sebastian.
Claudia entered the interview room.
Nathan looked exhausted.
“I didn’t steal the money.”
“Then why did you meet Greer?”
“He contacted me.”
“Why?”
“He said he had proof your mother-in-law was laundering money.”
Claudia almost laughed.
“Creative.”
“I believed him.”
“You transferred eight million dollars.”
“Under federal instruction.”
Claudia stopped.
“What?”
The door opened.
Agent Mercer entered.
Nathan looked at him.
“Tell her.”
Mercer sighed.
Nathan had been cooperating for six weeks.
The transfer was controlled.
The offshore account was being traced.
Greer believed he was moving stolen money.
In reality, agents were following the network.
“So why use my identity?”
“We didn’t,” Mercer said.
“That structure already existed.”
“Who created it?”
“We believe Greer did.”
“On whose orders?”
Mercer looked at Nathan.
Then at Claudia.
“That’s what tonight was supposed to reveal.”
Greer had carried a phone.
One encrypted contact.
No name.
Only initials.
I.N.
Claudia thought immediately of Isabella Navarro.
Sebastian’s mother.
But something bothered her.
Too obvious.
She asked Greer directly.
“Who is I.N.?”
He smiled.
“You’re smarter than Sebastian.”
“Who?”
“You think Navarro is a surname.”
Claudia stared.
Greer leaned forward.
“It’s an organization.”
She felt cold.
“What organization?”
“Ask your husband what his father really built.”
Sebastian denied knowing.
For once, Claudia believed him completely.
They searched Alejandro’s archives again.
This time Sophie found the clue.
She had been sitting nearby doing homework when she noticed a symbol on an old company seal.
A black triangle.
“Isn’t that the thing from Uncle Marcus’s files?”
Sebastian stared.
It was.
The same symbol used to mark targeted vessels.
Beneath it were three words in Latin.
Imperium Non Moritur.
The Empire Does Not Die.
I.N.
Not a person.
A network.
Alejandro had created a private circle decades earlier.
Executives.
Port officials.
Contractors.
Politicians.
People who profited from controlled shipping disruptions.
Marcus had inherited part of it.
Greer had protected it.
And Sebastian had unknowingly inherited the legitimate company built around it.
Claudia looked at him.
“You didn’t inherit your father’s empire.”
Sebastian stared at the black triangle.
“You inherited its cover.”
Then his phone rang.
Lily’s adoptive father.
Sebastian answered.
David was panicking.
“Lily’s gone.”
Sebastian stood.
“What?”
“She was supposed to be upstairs.”
“Call police.”
“We did.”
“When did you last see her?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Then David said something that froze the room.
May you like
“There’s a black triangle painted on her bedroom window.”
The old empire had just reached for Sebastian’s daughter.
