Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the SystemI locked the bedroom door behind me, my mind racing. The text message had come from an encrypted satellite line. There was only one person on the planet who called me "sister" and had access to that level of classified data: my former operative partner, Maya, who had supposedly vanished three years ago after our final mission in Geneva.
I dialed the number back immediately. It picked up on the first ring.
"I thought you were dead," I said into the receiver, keeping my voice down.
"And miss the performance of the century?" Maya’s voice came through, smooth and dripping with iron. "You always had a flair for the dramatic, Elena. Breaking his wrist was a nice touch, though standard defense protocol dictates a collarbone break for maximum compliance."
"What second account are you talking about, Maya?" I demanded, standing by the panoramic window overlooking the rain-slicked skyline. "I spent two weeks tracing Gregory's paper trail. I uncovered the St. Kitts shell company. There is no second account."
A dark laugh echoed from the speaker.
"Check his personal phone, Elena. Not his primary work device—the burner he keeps hidden inside the lining of his leather golf bag. Gregory isn't just an embezzler stealing from Vanguard. He's the front man for a money-laundering syndicate operating out of Eastern Europe. And the person he's laundering that money for... is your father's former business partner."
The air left my lungs. The room seemed to spin.
My father hadn't died of a heart attack five years ago. He had been ruined, bankrupted, and driven to an untimely death by a shadow coalition that seized his logistics empire. I had spent half a decade building a career in corporate forensics precisely to track down the men who destroyed him.
"You're telling me Gregory... was sent to target me?" I asked, my voice dropping an octave into dangerous territory.
"He didn't stumble into your life by accident at that charity gala six months ago, Elena," Maya revealed softly. "He was instructed to marry you, gain access to your father's remaining private trusts, and secure the decryption keys your father left in your name before he passed. He thought he was playing you. He thought tonight's little display of dominance would shatter your spirit so you'd hand over control of your estate without asking questions."
A icy smile crept across my lips. All the anger from Gregory's temper tantrum vanished, replaced by an intoxicating, predatory focus.
"He thinks he's the predator," I murmured.
May you like
"He has no idea he married the wolf," Maya agreed. "So, what's the play?"
"He wants a disciplined wife?" I looked at the door, hearing the faint sound of Gregory sobbing while scrubbing sauce off the floor. "I'm going to give him a masterclass."
