Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO HAD BEEN PROTECTING ME
Richard Vale left me alone in the warehouse for nearly an hour.
He wanted me frightened.
He wanted me desperate enough to cooperate.
But there was something he hadn't understood.
I had spent three years studying financial deception.
I knew how criminals behaved when they believed they had already won.
They became careless.
And Vale was becoming very careless.
When he returned, he carried two cups of coffee.
“Feeling better?”
“Where's Isabella?”
“Still alive.”
“That's not an answer.”
He smiled.
“You haven't changed.”
I looked at the document again.
The transfer authorization contained my signature, but the formatting was wrong.
The date was two years earlier, when I had been using a completely different digital certification system.
Someone had copied my signature onto a fraudulent authorization.
And someone had deliberately used my offshore trust to conceal the operation.
“Who created this?”
“You did.”
“No. I didn't.”
Vale leaned back.
“Taylor always said you were intelligent. I suppose he was right.”
“Then you know I can prove this document is fraudulent.”
His smile faded.
“Can you?”
I pointed to the lower corner.
“The transaction reference number belongs to a banking institution that didn't begin operating until last year.”
For the first time, Vale said nothing.
I continued.
“The authorization was supposedly signed two years ago. But the reference number was generated afterward. Whoever created this document didn't understand how the bank's transaction system worked.”
Vale stared at me.
Then he laughed.
“That's why I wanted you alive.”
He placed a laptop on the table.
“Correct the records. Rebuild the financial structure. Make the transfers look legitimate.”
“And if I refuse?”
He took a sip of coffee.
“Then your friend Isabella becomes a problem.”
I looked toward the security camera.
Its red indicator was blinking.
Vale followed my gaze.
“You're thinking about escape.”
“I'm thinking about how many people know you're doing this.”
He stood.
“Not enough to matter.”
He left.
I spent the next twenty minutes examining the documents on the laptop.
Then I found something unexpected.
An encrypted file labeled MERCER—ORIGINAL.
I opened it using the credentials hidden inside the fraudulent authorization.
A video appeared.
Daniel Mercer sat in a hospital room, looking older and thinner than I remembered.
His face was bruised.
His voice was barely audible.
“If you're watching this, Alex, Vale has already found you.”
He paused.
“I need you to understand something. Taylor didn't threaten me three years ago. He saved my life.”
I leaned toward the screen.
“Your discovery exposed a criminal network operating inside Rossi Enterprises. Vale had been using the company to finance illegal weapons shipments and human trafficking.”
My stomach twisted.
Daniel continued.
“I brought the evidence to Taylor because I knew he was the only person powerful enough to stop Vale. But Taylor couldn't expose him without destroying his own organization.”
He looked directly into the camera.
“So we made a deal.”
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
Taylor had known?
He had known about Vale all along?
Then why had he forced me into his organization?
Why had he kept me trapped?
A second file opened automatically.
It contained an audio recording.
Taylor's voice came through the speakers.
“Keep her alive. Whatever happens, Alex does not become another casualty.”
I closed my eyes.
For three years, I had believed Taylor had taken me because he needed a financial criminal.
Perhaps that had only been part of the truth.
But protecting me did not excuse imprisoning me.
It didn't erase the nights I had spent crying silently beside him.
And it certainly didn't explain his engagement to Isabella.
The warehouse door opened.
Vale returned with two armed men.
“Time's up.”
He unplugged the laptop.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“New York.”
I froze.
“Why?”
“Because your former employer is about to make an announcement.”
He showed me a live news broadcast.
Taylor Rossi stood outside the entrance of his Manhattan headquarters.
His expression was cold.
A reporter shouted a question.
“Mr. Rossi, can you confirm that the woman believed to be responsible for the recent financial scandal is Alex Hayes?”
Taylor looked toward the cameras.
Then he said something I would never forget.
“Alex Hayes is a criminal who stole from my organization.”
My chest tightened.
Vale smiled.
“There it is. Your former lover has finally decided to tell the truth.”
But as the broadcast continued, Taylor's eyes shifted toward someone standing behind the reporters.
A woman stepped into view.
She was holding a folder.
And I recognized her.
Margaret Ellis.
My employer in Oregon.
Taylor's expression changed.
For the first time, I saw genuine fear on his face.
Because Margaret wasn't supposed to be anywhere near New York.
May you like
And she was holding a photograph of a little girl.
A child I had never seen before.
