Chapter Twenty-Six
Hannah
Over the next few weeks, I couldn't believe so many good things were happening to me.
"Honey, you can't think like that," Mom said when I shared my thoughts with her. I'd called her on the way to work, telling her about something amazing that had happened this morning. I’d gotten a message from an investor. I’d also told her everything about my relationship with Chase after we came back from Palm Springs.
"Things were bound to turn around with the inn. But honestly, I’m happiest about you and Chase. I agree with Blair. There were some sparks between you two at the wedding. I'm sure of it. I had a good feeling about it."
That made my heart so happy. I trusted Mom's instincts. She’d never liked my ex.
“And you deserve to be with someone who appreciates you,” she continued.
"Thanks, Mom," I said. "I've arrived at the office. Got to go."
"Sure. Honey, just enjoy all the good things happening to you."
I was doing just that. During the elevator ride to the office, I reread the message from the investor. Boutique Relax Inc. was interested in a partnership. I wanted to dance out of sheer joy. It was October now; maybe I could seal the deal before Christmas. But I was getting ahead of myself.
Once I sat at my desk, I opened the messaging app, intending to give Chase the good news, and found that he’d already written to me.
Chase: Hey, gorgeous. Heads-up, I'm taking you away this evening, probably around eight o'clock.
My face exploded in a smile. My life was utterly perfect.
I typed right back.
Hannah: Perfect. I'm looking forward to it.
I would share the news with him this evening.
***
After about three hours of solid work, I headed to the break room to get myself a coffee. There were surprisingly many people inside it.
A whisper froze the blood in my veins. "The SEC is here. They’re investigating some suspicions of insider trading.”
I turned around, locating the source of the voice. It had come from one of two brokers standing by the far wall. I knew their faces, but I didn't know them by name.
Holding my head high, I walked up to them. "Did someone from management confirm the rumor?" I asked.
They both looked at me.
"I'm a broker," I explained.
"Right. Look, I can't even say where we heard the rumor first," one of them said. "I mean, there's one circulating at least once a year, and then it turns out to be nothing. I just heard this one a few times, so maybe there's truth to it this time."
“Okay. Thanks,” I said, going back to my seat with quick steps. Once I was sitting down, I took out my phone, texting Chase.
Hannah: Why is the SEC here? There's a rumor about some insider trading they're investigating .
He replied right away.
Chase: Yeah. They found some suspicious transactions from a user, but that happens more often than you think. Nothing to worry about. They’ve been tracking activity for a while.
Hannah: What is the account they're investigating?
He sent me a screenshot of a name and account number. All brokers had access to the online portal with clients' accounts, and I wanted to jump on it right away, but I had other things to do.
I breezed through my tasks, but I didn’t want to investigate the account while everyone was still here. At seven o’clock, I was finally alone. I wasn't sure why I was so cagey. Watching an account wasn't suspicious at all.
I opened the client portal, typed in the account number, and the recent transactions popped up. There were six. I gnawed at my lower lip. Each of the investments was in companies that had big scandals over the past months, and their shares took a nosedive.
But that wasn't unusual either. Unfortunately, many people sold their shares when the price went down instead of waiting for it to come back up—despite our recommendations.
I checked the dates of the transactions against the dates of the scandals and froze.
Each of them was made before the shares started dropping in price. Almost as if they really did have insider information.
The fact that it had happened every time right before the dip was what made it suspicious. Two or three strikes would've been a lucky guess, but six? This was all so obvious too.
I frowned. A bit too obvious, in fact. Always the same amount, always just the day before.
"Hannah, tell me everyone didn't just dump all their work on the new hire."
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed, startling in my seat. Duncan walked toward me as I put a hand on my chest.
He smiled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"I thought I was all alone here."
"And you are. There's no one on the entire floor. I just came here to see if the fridge in the break room's still got some food left."
"It doesn't," I said, smiling sheepishly. "I cleaned it out about an hour ago."
"Good for you." He glanced at the screen and frowned. "You're looking at Henson's Limited?"
I pursed my lips together. Damn it, why didn't I minimize it? On the other hand, this was Duncan Sterling. He was part of top management. I could be open with him.
"You heard?" he asked.
I nodded. "A lot of people did.”
“They know the name?"
"No. I got this from Chase. I asked him to send it to me as soon as I heard." I looked up at him and decided to just tell him exactly what I thought. "This looks suspicious."
"Usually I just brush off the commission when they come looking into things like this. I mean, they look anyway, and they never find anything, but there's something odd about this."
"Me too. Have you looked at it yourself?"
"Not in detail. I usually just wait for the SEC to do its thing. If I followed every lead they had, I'd waste half my time with it."
"Do you have a few minutes?" I asked.
He paled. "Sure." He sat right next to me. “Hit me.”
"Look at the dates," I said.
I scrolled so he could look at the transaction dates. I didn't need to spell it out for him. He was a bright guy. He would’ve remembered their share price crashing.
"One time would be a lucky guess," he stated as if reading my mind. "But this?"
I scrolled down. "It looks too suspicious for me. Like it was meant for the commission to catch it."
"Most people who do shit like this aren't smart enough to try to cover their tracks," Duncan said.
"True," I replied. "But this feels deliberate."
He glanced at me. "Look, I know for a fact that Chase is coming down here in a few minutes. He's been talking about taking you out the whole day."
“I know.”
"Do you have something planned tomorrow evening?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No."
"Good. Why don't you and I sit together and look at this. But not here. In my office."
I nodded. "Sure. If we're staying late, no one's going to see us anyway. You think I'm onto something?"
"It doesn't hurt to take a closer look." He paused. "Don't share it with my brother until we're sure of it. We don't need more of us wasting their time with this in case it turns out to be nothing."
"Sounds good. I don't want to worry him unless it's necessary."
Then Duncan gave me one of those rare smiles. "I didn't think I'd say this, but I'm glad my brother tracked you down and then convinced you to apply to Sterling Investments. Maybe I should trust the idiot more often."
I laughed. "What do you mean? You usually don't?"
"Well, sometimes he's—" He stopped abruptly and then cleared his throat again. "Sometimes he can be impulsive and reckless, but just know he always means well."
I minimized the window completely, so just in case anyone else passed us, they wouldn’t catch on.
"Okay," I said, but it sounded more like a question because I wasn't sure why he was telling me this at all.
"Duncan, have you—Hannah, you’re still here?" Chase asked. "Tell me someone didn't dump all their work on you."
I laughed. "Duncan came here saying the exact same thing. Rest assured, they didn't."
"Then what are you still doing here?" he asked me.
"Well, we were meeting at eight o’clock, so I thought I’d hang around.”
Duncan let out a breath of relief. He might be broodier than Chase, but his heart was in the right place. I respected him for not wanting to worry his brothers unless it was necessary. There was still a chance this would turn out to be nothing.
"All right then, let's all head out," Duncan said.
Chase and I walked side by side, but he didn't attempt to take my hand. To my surprise, we were joined by a few others in the elevator. They got in on different floors. Sometimes I forgot that a lot of companies were in a flurry around the end of the quarter.
Once we arrived on the ground floor, everyone else stepped out, and Chase and I went straight to his car. I was going to put my worries aside for the evening and simply enjoy this wonderful man.