Chapter 11 - The Second Traitor
Ruiz shoved Nathan against the wall.
“Down.”
Another gunshot struck the doorframe.
Officers returned fire.
Vanessa screamed.
Emergency lights flickered on.
A shadow moved through the corridor.
Ruiz pursued.
Nathan remained beside Vanessa.
Footsteps thundered upstairs.
Then silence.
Minutes later Ruiz returned.
His expression was grim.
“They got away.”
“Charles?”
Ruiz shook his head.
“Couldn’t see the face.”
Nathan held up Rebecca’s note.
“She said Charles isn’t the only one.”
Ruiz read it.
“Then somebody else has been helping him.”
Vanessa looked terrified.
“I know who.”
Everyone turned.
She swallowed.
“Gregory Pike.”
Ruiz shook his head.
“Too obvious.”
“No.”
Vanessa pushed herself upright.
“Pike worked for Charles.”
“He handled the money.”
“But somebody inside Howard Industries provided access.”
Nathan’s face changed.
“Board access?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Daniel.”
Nathan stared at her.
“My brother?”
“I saw his name in the files.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“You asked for the truth.”
“You’re lying again.”
“I lied before.”
Vanessa’s voice broke.
“I’m not lying now.”
Ruiz called an officer.
“Contact the team at the mansion.”
The reply came minutes later.
Daniel Howard was gone.
Claire had been found unconscious inside their guest room.
Nathan closed his eyes.
Elena received the news from her hospital bed.
She immediately called Claire after doctors cleared her.
Claire answered weakly.
“Elena?”
“Did Daniel hurt you?”
“No.”
Claire breathed slowly.
“He drugged me.”
Elena felt cold.
“Why?”
“I caught him packing.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
Claire was silent.
Then she whispered.
“He said he had to correct something his father started.”
Elena frowned.
“His father?”
Nathan and Daniel shared the same father.
Robert Howard.
Robert had died nine years earlier.
Elena immediately called Ruiz.
When she repeated Claire’s statement, Margaret interrupted.
“Robert knew.”
Everyone looked at her.
Margaret’s hands shook.
“He knew about Pike.”
“He knew Rebecca had evidence.”
Nathan stared.
“Dad helped Charles?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“But three days before his death, Robert told me something.”
“What?”
“He said one of our sons would eventually have to pay for what the family had done.”
Nathan felt sick.
Ruiz opened old company records.
A pattern appeared.
Money stolen by Pike had not disappeared.
It had been redirected through shell companies.
Several shell companies were later purchased cheaply by Howard Industries.
Someone had used the theft to consolidate corporate assets.
Nathan whispered.
“My father.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Possibly.”
Then Elena noticed something in a document Ruiz sent her.
One shell company had been transferred to a trust.
The beneficiary was not Charles.
Not Daniel.
Not Vanessa.
It was Rebecca Mercer.
Elena stared at the name.
And suddenly the entire case became more dangerous.
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Rebecca had not merely survived.
She might have been part of the plan.
