Chapter 47
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
NATE
I kiss her goodbye as we part ways on the tarmac and get into the back of the waiting car.
No words are spoken, but Titus drives us straight to the office, Xavier in the car behind. Killian and Dex went home, there was no need to involve either of them in this.
Parking, I clamber out, grabbing my backpack and my laptop as we all walk towards the elevator. We ride up together and I can't stand all of their eyes on me, burning into my soul and waiting for them to hear what was so important that I needed to call them all up here straight from the plane.
I am the first to walk out, walking straight into our meeting room as I place the laptop down then I begin to pace.
I feel sick.
Exhaustion threatens to cripple me but my anxiety peaks just at that moment.
Hate it.
I knew this was coming though.
I knew I was about to blow this up.
I knew that this was always going to play out this way.
“What the fuck is wrong?” Kaleb's voice booms around the room as Titus and Xavier take their seats, Keaton continues walking until he is next to me.
“We have a situation,” Keaton snipes across the room before his eyes are on me.
“What kind of situation?” Xavier asks the burning question on everyone’s tongue.
“Wolfe.”
Xavier laughs loudly, clapping his hands together as it echoes around the room.
“Wolfe is dead Nate, did you not know that or?” he looks at Titus before his eyes are on me.
“I know he is dead, but Secure Corp...” I pause and swallow, “the company that James hired me to take down... well, they've been paying him for the last eighteen years, and they're still paying him.”
Xavier sits a little taller.
“I had my own reasons to look into Secure Corp, James' reasons were different to mine. She believed that her boyfriend at the time was embezzling money out of the business, but it wasn't that at all, they were paying Wolfe for a service and to make it all disappear.”
My eyes skate across to Xavier.
“I know you used to be in this line of work... is it as simple as making it disappear?”
The heavy sigh echoes around the room, his fingers linked together and rest in his lap, his eyes skating around the room before he nods.
“I have people that have been murdered that I have cleaned up so well, their families are still searching for the bodies. I have had celebrities that have overdosed that I have managed to make into a complete fabrication... nothing is at it seems, Nathaniel when it came to my line of work. I wasn't sloppy, some are... but not me. We may be able to go back to the night of the incident that you are clearly sugar coating around.”
I swallow.
“Tell them Nate,” Keaton says softly as his hand rests on my shoulder and he gives me a reassuring squeeze.
“James' parents died when she was seven...” I puff my cheeks out and ignore the way my palms start to sweat, “James wanted me to look into the money that was disappearing from Secure Corp, her ex, Rune's father owns the company. She didn't like that this was happening, and they had another person that was entitled to money out of the business. She hired me to find out where it was going and if I could, get it to the brother who was the heir. Problem was, the brother was nowhere to be found, it was like he’d disappeared into thin air when he was younger. Nothing was ever said; he was never reported missing by the family. He was the spare. They didn't care about him. She wanted me to destroy them and give him his business. His money. But I had my own reasons for wanting to tear the company to shreds and ask you if your friend Carter would be interested in selling off the pieces...” I eye Xavier over my black framed glasses.
Xavier gives a subtle nod.
“I managed to find out some details on Rayden... he got lost in the foster care system at the age of twelve, and once he was of legal age, he ran... there was nothing that could be done.”
I swallow.
“Nate, what is it?” and I can see the uneasiness that masks Kaleb’s face.
“Somebody made him disappear,” and I can see the cogs turning in Xavier's head, realisation hitting him full pelt.
“Rayden Atthill,” and I nod at Xavier's confirmation.
“Well, it seemed he was hidden a little too well until one morning he showed up on a doorstep with an envelope, detailing everything that was wrong with Secure Corp, and warning them of their fate after he hacked into their servers and found a chilling trail of emails.” I glance at Titus, and he sits with his elbow on the table, hand resting on his chin and I feel like they can already work out where this is going.
“Barnaby found out that he had leaked information and then ordered Wolfe Knight to assassinate James' parents.”
“Does she know they were murdered?” and I shake my head at Kaleb's question.
“She believes they were killed in a car accident, hit by a drunk driver.”
Guilt eats away at me.
“What did they know?” Titus asks as he shuffles in his seat.
I inhale heavily.
“They knew about the circles that Barnaby ran in... but they also helped Rayden when he was a child. They snuck him out and refused to give him back, they kept him hidden at her dad—George—his dad's house where he was happy to keep watch over him. That was until Barnaby got to him, offering him money he couldn't refuse. George and Meredith went mad, they fought to get him back, but it was too late, Barnaby had buried him so deep in the system they would have never found him. I think I have an idea of what kept him away from them until that fatal night in June, but Rayden arrived at their door with an envelope that morning. A little girl with fire red hair answered the door, calling for her mom but her dad, was there first, tucking her away and leading her off. Meredith knew who he was, she knew why he came back and that they needed to leave. He gave them enough cash to make a new start but also gave them a warning to let them know that Barnaby was on to them, he knew that they were feeding information back. You see, Meredith and George worked for Secure Corp, they were high up, they knew things that they shouldn't and after threatening to tell the investors where their money was going and how their money was being filtered into circles... well, Barnaby didn't like it. Rayden promised to watch over their daughter should anything happen before walking away.”
My hands tremble.
“What are you not telling us, Nate?”
I slice my eyes down to my laptop for a moment, counting to five in my head before I stare forward and look into the room.
“I'm Rayden Atthill.”