Chapter 5 - Numbers That Could Get Her Killed
Dominic wanted Alex moved to a secure apartment before sunset.
Alex refused before he finished the sentence.
They argued inside Bobby’s office for twelve minutes.
Bobby listened from the kitchen with his ear accidentally positioned against the door.
“I’m not moving.”
“You are.”
“No.”
“My building has security.”
“Your building probably has snipers.”
“No snipers.”
“That pause was suspicious.”
“Alex.”
“I have work.”
“You can work somewhere else.”
“I have clients.”
“They can come to you.”
“I have a lease.”
“I’ll pay it.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Dominic stared at her as though stubbornness was a foreign language somebody had forced him to learn.
“What is the point?”
“My life doesn’t become yours because somebody threatened me.”
His face hardened.
“I’m not trying to own your life.”
“You give orders like you are.”
“That’s how I keep people alive.”
“Maybe that’s how you control them.”
The words landed harder than she intended.
Dominic stepped back.
For a moment she saw anger.
Then something more complicated.
“You’re right.”
Alex blinked.
“What?”
“I control things.”
“That was surprisingly easy.”
“Don’t enjoy it.”
“I’m trying not to.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“But if you’re staying, you follow some rules.”
“I dislike this sentence already.”
“You call if anything feels wrong.”
“Fine.”
“You don’t leave Marlow’s alone after dark.”
“Dominic—”
“Nonnegotiable.”
She sighed.
“Fine.”
“You don’t investigate Briar Holdings without me.”
Alex hesitated.
He noticed.
“Alex.”
“Fine.”
“Say it like you mean it.”
“I refuse on principle.”
Despite everything, Dominic smiled.
That became their agreement.
It lasted nine hours.
At midnight Alex received an email.
No sender name.
One attachment.
A spreadsheet.
She should have called Dominic.
Instead she opened it.
The document contained five years of transactions.
Companies.
Dates.
Amounts.
Routing codes.
One name appeared repeatedly.
NAD-VH-17.
North Avenue Development.
Victor Hale.
Alex’s stomach tightened.
She called Dominic.
He answered on the first ring.
“What happened?”
“Hello to you too.”
“Alex.”
“Email.”
She explained.
“Don’t open anything else.”
“Too late.”
“Of course it is.”
“I’m sending the file.”
“No. Wait.”
“Why?”
“Because if somebody sent it to you, they may be tracking where it goes.”
Alex froze.
“You think my computer’s compromised?”
“I think we assume everything is compromised.”
Five minutes later someone knocked on her door.
Three deliberate knocks.
Alex gripped a kitchen knife.
“Who is it?”
“Marco.”
She opened the door three inches.
Dominic’s security chief stood outside holding a laptop.
“You brought a computer?”
“And Dominic.”
Alex opened the door farther.
Dominic stepped from the stairwell.
“You could have mentioned that.”
“You would’ve said no.”
“You’re learning.”
He entered.
Marco set up an isolated laptop at the kitchen table.
They transferred the file without connecting it to the internet.
Alex began reading.
For two hours she barely spoke.
Dominic sat opposite her.
Marco stood near the door.
At 2:36 a.m., Alex found the pattern.
“These aren’t thefts.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“What are they?”
“Payments.”
“To who?”
“I don’t know.”
She turned the screen.
“Every time money leaves Briar Holdings, something happens within seventy-two hours.”
“What kind of thing?”
She slid over a handwritten list.
A labor strike disappeared.
A zoning complaint was withdrawn.
A competitor sold property unexpectedly.
A witness left town.
A city inspector changed his report.
Dominic stared.
“These are bribes.”
“Some.”
“Others?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
Alex pointed toward another column.
“The payments accelerated eighteen months ago.”
“That’s when my father’s old territory dispute restarted.”
“Who was involved?”
“Salvatore Grayson.”
Marco finally spoke.
“He’s been pushing from the west side.”
Alex looked between them.
“Could Victor be paying him?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Victor hates Grayson.”
“People hide betrayal behind believable hatred all the time.”
Dominic looked at her.
She immediately wished she had phrased it differently.
“You really are an accountant.”
“Occupational hazard.”
They continued.
Near dawn Alex found something strange.
One transfer differed from the others.
Fifty thousand dollars.
No company.
No code.
Only initials.
E.M.
“Who’s E.M.?” she asked.
Dominic looked.
His face emptied.
Marco looked away.
Alex noticed both reactions.
“You know.”
Dominic stood.
“We’re finished.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Who is E.M.?”
Dominic walked toward the window.
“Someone who’s dead.”
Alex waited.
“Who?”
“My mother.”
The answer silenced the room.
“Elena Russo.”
Alex looked back at the transfer.
“The payment happened two years ago.”
“My mother died eight years ago.”
“That’s impossible.”
Dominic’s expression said he knew.
Marco quietly left the kitchen.
Alex understood the gesture.
Privacy.
Dominic stared through the window.
“She hated what my father became.”
“Was she involved in the business?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
He turned.
“Yes.”
The sharpness of his answer made Alex pause.
Then she pointed toward the record.
“Somebody used her initials.”
Dominic walked back.
He looked at the date.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“That date.”
“What about it?”
“My mother’s birthday.”
Alex felt a chill.
This was not accounting camouflage.
It was personal.
A message hidden inside the books.
Someone had been building the trail knowing Dominic would eventually discover it.
Or knowing Alex would.
“Dominic.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t think someone is stealing from you.”
“What do you think?”
Alex stared at the numbers.
“I think somebody is trying to make you look in a specific direction.”
“Toward Victor?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She turned another page.
“Maybe because they need you to stop looking somewhere else.”
Dominic became very still.
That morning, he ordered a silent audit of every Russo company.
By afternoon, two accountants disappeared.
One computer server was destroyed in an unexplained electrical fire.
May you like
And at 6:05 p.m., Marco called Dominic with the news that changed everything.
Victor Hale had vanished.
