Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
It’s another small gathering, with only Jeremy, Luka, Marshall, Dean, Dayne, Vaden, and me.
“The kids were exhausting today,” Dayne says, yawning. “Talis went to bed early after we tucked them in.”
“They’re going to be alphas,” Marshall says.
Everyone makes a face, and I look between them, sensing I’m missing something. “I don’t understand.”
“Alphas are dominant. You rarely see them show that trait until they hit puberty, but Dayne and Talis are extremely dominant, so they’re already showing signs now,” Luka explains.
I try to imagine a toddler who refuses to do as they’re told, then two of them, and I feel very sorry for Dayne and Talis because if they’re already like this so young, I’m not sure I want to be around when they’re teenagers.
“Yeah,” Dayne says tiredly. He shakes his head. “Anyway, enough about the kids. Dean had an idea.”
When I spot Dean’s laptop, I get excited. In our last meeting, I told him everything I could remember about my boss, Sean Linklater, the investment company, and the client file my boss was using to hide his embezzlement.
“You found something,” I say.
“Not exactly,” Dean says, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t use it to destroy your boss.”
I’m not the only one staring at him, perplexed.
“I don’t understand. How could you have found nothing we can use to destroy my boss?” I ask.
“Your boss isn’t stupid. The moment he realized that someone had overheard him embezzling from the company, he would have deleted any evidence he could.
Maybe he thought you’d recorded some of the conversation, but he’s been after you long enough that he probably doesn’t believe you have anything.
I mean, if you had proof, you’d have shown it to the cops when you went to them about what you overheard, right? ” Dean asks.
I nod. “Right.”
“But he isn’t sure. His promotion from CFO to CEO means he can’t risk any whispers getting out before the company goes public. That would cast doubt on him, and the board could get rid of him before that big payout.”
“As exciting as all this is, none of that is telling us how we can use it to destroy this company,” Dayne growls impatiently.
“We let him think that you have something,” Dean says. “Luka said the security guys who destroyed your stuff took your phone.”
“Yeah,” I confirm. It wouldn’t have taken them long to discover there was no proof of any crime on it.
“So even though the boss is almost positive you have nothing, at the back of his mind, there’s a tingle of doubt. What if? That’s how we’ll destroy him. We’re going to tickle that doubt in the back of his head until he’ll do anything to get rid of it—even stop listening to reason,” Dean says.
“And how do we do that?” Jeremy asks, scratching his jaw.
Dean lifts his laptop. “I have a USB flash drive. I’ve saved a couple of folders in it. We’re going to convince Sean Linklater that there’s something important on here, and he’s going to incriminate himself trying to get it back.”
I shake my head. “He’ll ask for details, and he’ll know, no matter what I say, that I’m lying.”
“But does he want to risk you walking around with proof that could destroy him?” Dean asks.
“Because I don’t think he will. And also, you gave me the client file name, the date and time he stopped by the office late, when everyone had gone home, so he could do a little embezzling with a couple of co-workers. ”
I perk up. “Co-workers?”
A radiant smile transforms Dean’s face. “You know what I find interesting about some companies?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell us,” Dayne says, sounding thoroughly bored by the conversation.
I guess he’s more interested in the killing part of the plan. After the hell Sean Linklater and his security guys put me through, I wouldn’t mind getting to that part of the plan either.
“They spend a lot of time and resources protecting the valuable data, the things that anyone would be looking to steal. Do you know what they care less about?” Dean asks.
I shake my head.
“Low-level secretary calendars. Information is stored in different ways at your former place of work. I couldn’t hack into the company to find important files, but I could access their calendar. I was able to go back to specific dates, for example, the last day you clocked in to clean the office.”
From Dean’s smug smile, he found something. “How is getting into the calendar important?”
“The executives have cards they swipe to get into the building. Your murderous boss swiped in that night. So did his assistant and a lower-level executive. Both men got a big promotion soon after you ran. Before that night, they had more meetings together than with anyone else in the company. While they didn’t record any late meetings they had with each other in their secretaries’ calendars, it suggests they worked very closely together. ”
Vaden stirs in the seat beside me. “They were all involved in embezzling.”
Dean nods. “Walter Douglas and Jerome Ingles. Both are now on the board of the company.”
“You want to wave those names under the CEO’s nose and tickle that tingle of doubt, don’t you?” Dayne says, no longer looking tired but interested.
Dean nods. “This is new information. Shelby went to the cops, talking about embezzlement. She had no proof, but now, if she starts naming the men who were meeting with him that night, he’s going to do anything to get her to stop talking.”
I look at the USB flash drive sticking out of the laptop. “That’s going to be the proof.”
“Call the CEO. Make it clear you have names and are happy to go to an investigative journalist at The Wall Street Journal who’d jump at the chance to break a story like that.
All you want is a couple of hundred thousand and for the two men who followed you to leave you alone.
In return, you’ll hand over the evidence, and he’ll never hear from you again. ”
“That’s going to involve a face-to-face meeting,” Vaden says before I can speak. “That’s going to involve putting Shelby at risk.”
“She won’t be alone,” Jeremy says.
“We can deal with them before they can hurt Shelby,” Luka says. “It comes with risks, but as long as we set the time and place, we can mitigate them as much as possible.”
“But that doesn’t mean the CEO will just stop,” I say. “What’s preventing him from sending more people after me?”
“You’re going to call him when this exchange happens. That’s going to be non-negotiable. That call will connect the CEO with two hired killers, a plot to kill you, and a payoff. If he incriminates himself, even better, but we’ll record everything. He just won’t know we’re recording.”
No one says anything for the longest time, but I feel Vaden’s tension rising.
“All of that is dependent on putting my mate in close proximity to two men who have been trying to kill her. There has to be another plan,” Vaden says.
“There isn’t one,” Dean says. “There’s no proof. We need more.”
“This is all we have,” Dayne says.
Vaden looks at Dayne. “Then tell me, if this was Talis we were talking about putting in front of two men who tried to shoot her in the head, would you be so eager to sign her up for this plan?”
Dayne doesn’t respond. He doesn’t need to. The growl emanating from his chest makes it clear he would never agree to let Talis do it.
Vaden gets to his feet. “Not good enough. Find a better plan. I’m not risking Shelby’s life for this. Not a chance.” And he walks out.