Chapter 8 - The Trojan HorseMy stomach dropped into freefall. I pushed past Matteo, grabbed my phone off the counter, and sprinted toward my laptop on the dining table. I flipped the screen open, my fingers flying frantically across the keyboard to log into my corporate email portal.
Matteo was right behind me, his instincts instantly locking onto the shift in my posture. "What is it?"
"An encrypted file," I muttered, my heart hammering against my ribs as I clicked on an attachment sent from an anonymous external server just thirty seconds ago. "Sent to my personal executive inbox. It bypasses the company firewall."
The screen flickered. A massive, high-resolution PDF opened, displaying internal financial routing numbers, shell company registries, and a tangled web of offshore accounts.
I stared at the data, and every drop of blood drained from my face.
"It's not Richard," I whispered, horror gripping my throat. "It's not Jean."
Matteo leaned over my shoulder, his eyes scanning the lines of code and financial transfers. His jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked in his cheek.
"Luca," Matteo barked without turning around.
Luca materialized from the hallway instantly, his tablet already in hand. "Boss?"
"Trace the IP address of that incoming transmission," Matteo ordered, his voice dropping into a lethal, glacial tone. "Now."
"I'm already on it," Luca said, his fingers flying across his screen. "The file didn't come from Richard Laurent. It came from an encrypted proxy server routed through Zurich. But the signature on the escrow account... Boss, look at the beneficiary name."
I pointed a shaking finger at the bottom of the PDF. There, gleaming in bold digital ink, was a name I had only ever heard whispered in hushed tones by senior partners who treated it like urban legend.
May you like
The Vanguard Syndicate.
"They didn't just buy out Dubois & Laurent's debt," Matteo murmured, staring at the screen with dark, dangerous realization. "They planted it there years ago. Jean Dubois wasn't just a bad boss, Ayla. He was a front. And Mabel’s family wasn't just skimming profits... they were fronting for a hostile corporate raider who has been trying to break into my shipping empire for a decade."
