Chapter 9 - The Woman I TrustedMara was waiting in the executive conference room.
She didn't try to run.
That was the first thing that made me doubt the documents.
The second was the look on her face.
Not guilt.
Anger.
"You should have asked me."
I placed the bank statement on the table.
"Then explain."
She sat.
"The money was never mine."
"Whose?"
"I don't know."
"Convenient."
She leaned forward.
"Six months after I joined ValeCore, somebody wired $2.4 million into an account in my name."
"Why?"
"Because they wanted me to disappear."
I stared.
"What?"
"I refused."
"Refused what?"
"To give them the original architecture."
My pulse jumped.
"Who asked?"
She looked at the camera above the door.
"I couldn't say it aloud."
I shut the blinds.
"Now."
Mara pulled a small recorder from her pocket.
She pressed play.
Victor Kane's voice filled the room.
"You can either cooperate, Mara, or lose everything."
Mara's voice answered:
"Go to hell."
Victor laughed.
Then:
"Your employer already belongs to us."
The recording ended.
"Where did you get this?"
"Victor left it in my office."
"Why?"
"Because he wanted me scared."
I stared at the bank statement.
"What happened to the money?"
"I never touched it."
"Then?"
"I reported the account."
"To whom?"
"Federal investigators."
My heart stopped.
"When?"
"Eight months ago."
"You never told me."
"I was instructed not to."
"By whom?"
She met my eyes.
"Your mother."
The room went silent.
"Mom?"
"She contacted me secretly."
"Why?"
"She said someone inside the family was compromised."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You knew about the investigation?"
"Yes."
"And you still stayed beside me."
"Because I believed you were safer with someone you trusted."
I leaned back.
"For how long?"
"From the beginning."
"Why?"
Mara hesitated.
"Because your mother asked me."
I stared.
My entire life suddenly felt like a room with hidden walls.
Mom had protected me.
Then stolen from me.
Mara had been planted beside me.
Then protected me.
Victor had stolen millions.
My father had borrowed against my future.
And somebody was still running Northbridge.
"Who controls it?" I asked.
Mara shook her head.
"We don't know."
"Then find out."
She nodded.
"I have one lead."
"Who?"
"Bianca."
I froze.
"What does my sister have to do with Northbridge?"
Mara opened her laptop.
An image appeared.
Bianca at twenty.
A hotel lobby.
Beside her stood a Northbridge representative.
I stared.
The date was two years earlier.
Before today's reveal.
Before the graduation.
Before I knew anything.
"She met them."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Mara clicked again.
A contract appeared.
Bianca had signed something.
A confidentiality agreement.
My chest tightened.
"What did she sell?"
Mara enlarged the document.
My eyes moved down the page.
Then stopped.
Bianca hadn't sold information.
She had agreed to something much worse.
Upon Ava Vale's public identification as founder of ValeCore Systems, Bianca Vale shall assume full family communications authority on behalf of the Vale estate.
I looked at Mara.
"What does that mean?"
Mara's face went pale.
"It means..."
She pointed at the final clause.
"...your sister was supposed to inherit control of the family trust."
A chill ran through me.
"Not me?"
"No."
"Why?"
Mara stared at the document.
May you like
Then whispered:
"Because Northbridge believed you wouldn't survive long enough to claim it."
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