Chapter 6 - The Forty-Second FloorLancaster Meridian headquarters rose sixty-four stories above downtown Chicago.
Not when Ethan handed her the flash drive.
Not when Caleb verified the file's metadata.
Not when the email appeared on the apartment television, enlarged across sixty inches of glowing glass.
Daniel's name sat at the top.
Daniel Lancaster.
Sent 11:43 p.m.
Six years ago.
Sophia recognized his writing before she finished the first sentence.
Ethan,
I need you to meet me privately tomorrow morning. Do not involve Victor.
Her knees weakened.
Caleb pulled out a chair.
She ignored it.
The email continued.
Daniel had discovered transfers from Lancaster Meridian's international expansion fund into shell companies registered in Delaware, Luxembourg, and Singapore.
Twenty-eight million dollars at first.
Then more.
Much more.
The transactions had been disguised as vendor payments and acquisition expenses.
Only three executives had authority to approve them.
Sophia.
Daniel.
Victor.
Sophia had approved none.
Daniel had approved none.
Which left Victor.
The final paragraph was worse.
Victor knows I've found the accounts. He told me I'm misunderstanding an internal restructuring. I don't believe him. Ethan, if anything happens before we talk, preserve the audit archive and go directly to Sophia.
Sophia read the last line three times.
Then whispered, "Why didn't I know?"
Ethan sat across from her.
"I swear to you, I never saw it."
"You were head of security."
"Not then. Deputy director."
"You were Daniel's friend."
"I know."
"You carried his coffin."
Ethan's eyes filled.
"I know."
Sophia turned away.
Caleb stood near the window.
He said nothing.
That silence saved him.
If he had tried to comfort her, she might have thrown him out.
Instead he gave her the dignity of anger.
Victor hadn't simply stolen money.
If Daniel's warning was true, he had taken six years of truth.
Six years in which Sophia had grieved beside the man who might have helped cause her husband's death.
Victor had attended Emily's birthdays.
He had stood beside Sophia at Daniel's memorial.
He had toasted Daniel's integrity.
He had held Sophia's hand when she couldn't stop shaking at the funeral.
The memory made her physically nauseous.
She walked to the sink.
Caleb moved beside her but didn't touch her.
"Don't."
"I wasn't going to."
"Good."
She breathed through it.
Then straightened.
"How much money?"
Ethan looked at the screen.
"We need to reconstruct the accounts."
"Estimate."
"At least one hundred and eighty million over eight years."
Sophia turned.
"One hundred and eighty?"
"Possibly more."
"How did auditors miss it?"
"They may not have."
That came from Caleb.
Sophia looked at him.
He pointed to the email.
"If Victor had a network inside the company, Daniel wasn't investigating one man. He was investigating a system."
Sophia thought about executives Victor had recommended.
Compliance officers.
Finance directors.
Outside counsel.
Board members.
People Sophia had trusted because Victor vouched for them.
Her empire suddenly looked infected.
"How do I know who is clean?"
"You don't," Caleb said.
Ethan bristled.
"That's helpful."
"It's accurate."
Caleb faced Sophia.
"From now on, assume corporate email is compromised. Assume calendar access is compromised. Assume at least one person in executive security is compromised."
Ethan stood.
"My people are loyal."
Caleb looked at the red bracelet.
"You handed your credential to the primary suspect."
Ethan took a step toward him.
"And you think because you wore a uniform you're the only man who understands security?"
Caleb didn't move.
"No."
"Then stop treating me like an idiot."
"I'll stop when it stops being dangerous."
Sophia slammed her palm against the counter.
"Enough."
Both men went silent.
She pointed at Ethan.
"You stay because Daniel trusted you."
Then at Caleb.
"You stay because you saved Emily."
She looked between them.
"If either of you turns this into a competition, I'll remove you both."
Ben appeared in the hallway.
"Is this a bad time?"
Caleb closed his eyes.
"Very."
Ben nodded.
"Emily wants pancakes."
From behind him, Emily signed emphatically.
Chocolate chip.
Ben translated.
Sophia stared at the children.
Then laughed.
She couldn't help it.
Everything was collapsing.
Her husband might have been murdered.
Her company might have been robbed for years.
Someone had nearly killed her daughter.
And Emily wanted pancakes.
Caleb looked at Sophia.
"Kids are weirdly good at reminding you the world still exists."
She nodded.
"Make pancakes."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Was that a CEO order?"
"Yes."
"I don't work for you."
Sophia almost smiled.
"You do now."
Caleb stared at her.
"What?"
"I want to hire you."
"No."
She blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"No."
"I haven't told you the salary."
"Don't care."
"I can pay you more in a month than most security firms pay in a year."
"Still no."
Sophia narrowed her eyes.
"Why?"
"Because money changes the chain of command."
"You would report to me."
"Exactly."
"And that's a problem?"
"You're emotionally involved."
"This is my daughter and my dead husband. Of course I'm emotionally involved."
"Which means sometimes I'll tell you not to do something."
"You've already done that."
"And you'll ignore me."
"Probably."
"That's the problem."
Ethan gave a short laugh.
Sophia glared at him.
He looked away.
Caleb continued.
"I'll help until the immediate threat is contained. After that, you hire a professional team."
"You are professional."
"I'm a contractor with a ten-year-old son."
"And former SEAL."
Ethan's brows rose.
Sophia noticed.
"You didn't know?"
"No."
Caleb looked annoyed.
"Can we not make that the headline?"
Sophia folded her arms.
"Why did you leave?"
Caleb's face changed.
"That's not relevant."
"I decide what's relevant if you're protecting my child."
His eyes hardened.
"I left because my wife was dying."
The room fell quiet.
Sophia instantly regretted asking.
Caleb looked toward Ben.
"Hannah had ovarian cancer. By the time we knew, it had spread. I had already missed half of Ben's childhood."
He swallowed.
"I wasn't missing the end of hers."
Sophia's anger disappeared.
"I'm sorry."
"So was I."
He picked up the pancake mix.
"Chocolate chip?"
Ben nodded.
Emily raised both thumbs.
And for the next twenty minutes, the safest thing in Sophia Lancaster's life was the ordinary sound of batter hitting a hot skillet.
At noon, Ethan returned to headquarters.
Not openly.
Sophia instructed him to act as though she still trusted Victor.
Because despite everything, they needed proof.
A suspicious email was not enough to accuse one of the most powerful businessmen in Chicago of murder.
They needed financial records.
Security logs.
Communications.
And ideally, evidence tying Victor directly to the attempted attack at the gala.
Caleb objected to Ethan going alone.
Ethan went anyway.
Sophia secretly enjoyed that Caleb now knew how she felt when being ignored.
At one-fifteen, Victor called again.
This time she answered.
"Sophia."
His relief sounded convincing.
"Where have you been? I've been worried sick."
"I needed time with Emily."
"Of course."
She closed her eyes.
He sounded exactly as he always had.
Warm.
Concerned.
Familiar.
That was the worst part.
"You should come to headquarters."
"Why?"
"The board is frightened. Press speculation is becoming dangerous."
"About the chandelier?"
"About leadership instability."
Sophia went still.
"Leadership instability?"
"Don't take it personally."
"I generally take attempts to remove me from my own company personally."
Victor sighed.
"No one is removing you."
"What are they discussing?"
"A temporary medical leave."
Sophia nearly laughed.
"My daughter was almost crushed twelve hours ago and the board wants me declared medically incapable?"
"Emotionally overwhelmed."
There it was again.
A woman asks questions.
A man calls her emotional.
Sophia looked at Caleb.
He was watching her.
She spoke carefully.
"Who proposed the leave?"
Silence.
Then Victor said, "I did."
Sophia's anger became something colder.
"Why?"
"To protect you."
"From what?"
"From decisions you might regret."
Sophia's gaze settled on the flash drive containing Daniel's email.
"Interesting."
"Sophia—"
"I'll come to headquarters tomorrow morning."
Caleb shook his head immediately.
She ignored him.
Victor sounded relieved.
"Good."
"Full board?"
"Yes."
"Nine o'clock."
"I'll arrange security."
"No."
A pause.
"I'll arrange my own."
She ended the call.
Caleb stared at her.
"Absolutely not."
Sophia put down the phone.
"You said sometimes you'd tell me not to do something."
"Yes."
"You were right."
His eyebrows lifted.
Then she smiled without humor.
"And I told you I'd ignore you."
At 4:37 p.m., Ethan texted a single sentence from inside Lancaster Meridian headquarters.
FOUND DANIEL'S ORIGINAL AUDIT.
Thirty seconds later, another message arrived.
Then another.
Someone knows I'm here.
Sophia called.
No answer.
Caleb called.
No answer.
A minute later, Ethan's location signal disappeared.
Sophia grabbed her coat.
Caleb blocked the door.
"No."
"Move."
"We don't know what we're walking into."
"Ethan is in my building."
"Which may already be controlled by Victor."
"Move."
Caleb stepped closer.
"Sophia, if this is a trap, rushing in is exactly what they want."
Her eyes burned.
"Daniel asked Ethan for help six years ago. Ethan never got the message."
She pointed at the phone.
"I am not letting that happen twice."
Caleb stared at her.
Then something in his expression changed.
Not surrender.
Respect.
"Fine."
He pulled on his jacket.
"But we do it my way."
Sophia picked up her purse.
"What does your way mean?"
May you like
Caleb checked the magazine in a legally carried handgun, secured it beneath his jacket, and looked at her.
"It means Victor Hale is about to learn that threatening people's children was a very bad career decision."
Related Stories
