Chapter 4 - Someone Had Been Using Declan’s Name
Declan read the sentence twice.
Sadie watched his face.
Nothing moved.
That was how she knew he was furious.
Victor reached for the photograph.
Declan did not release it immediately.
“Where did this come from?”
“Front gate.”
“Courier?”
“Unmarked sedan. Plate covered.”
“When?”
“Three minutes ago.”
Declan finally handed him the photograph.
Sadie saw herself leaving Green Hollow four days earlier.
She had been carrying groceries.
Completely unaware anyone was watching.
The image frightened her.
The message beneath it frightened Declan.
Not because it threatened him.
Because it confirmed something worse.
Marcus Vane had targeted Sadie long before the argument over her mother’s bill.
“This wasn’t random,” Declan said.
Sadie looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“He was watching you before you challenged Green Hollow.”
Victor agreed.
“The timestamp proves it.”
Sadie studied the photograph.
“Why?”
Nobody answered.
She remembered the countless rooms she had cleaned.
The conversations people had held near her.
The papers left on desks.
The time Marcus Vane had snapped at her for entering the library unexpectedly.
Sadie’s stomach turned.
“I heard something.”
Declan’s eyes focused on her.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
She hated being ordered.
But this time she did think.
Three weeks earlier.
Library.
Marcus speaking to another man.
Dock Nine.
A shipment.
Numbers.
Then Marcus noticing her.
She had been carrying clean glasses.
“What did you hear?”
Sadie closed her eyes.
“He said the Harbor Renewal contracts had to clear before October.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Declan noticed.
“What?”
Victor took out his phone.
“The Harbor Renewal project is worth eighty million dollars.”
Sadie continued.
“He mentioned council votes.”
Declan’s jaw tightened.
“What else?”
“Someone said, ‘Watters never checks the community accounts.’”
Silence.
Victor looked at Declan.
Sadie realized the importance immediately.
“Community accounts.”
The fake protection program.
“Yes,” Declan said.
Sadie whispered,
“They thought I heard enough to understand.”
“No,” Victor said. “They thought you might eventually.”
Declan looked at the photograph again.
“And when you challenged Green Hollow, Marcus assumed you already knew.”
Sadie felt cold.
She had been beaten over information she had not even understood.
“That’s insane.”
“It’s fear,” Declan said.
“Of what?”
He looked at Victor.
“Show her.”
Victor hesitated.
“Declan.”
“She’s already in this.”
Sadie wanted to object.
Unfortunately, he was right.
Victor opened a file on his tablet.
The Harbor Renewal project appeared.
Luxury towers.
Public parks.
Waterfront development.
A city transformation worth hundreds of millions over a decade.
Declan’s construction company had been awarded a major portion.
But several contracts had been inflated.
Money had been routed through shell companies.
Then through Green Hollow’s parent network.
Someone had stolen not thousands.
Not millions.
Nearly thirty-two million dollars.
Sadie stared at the number.
“How did nobody notice?”
Declan’s face hardened.
“Because the person stealing it controlled the people responsible for checking.”
“Marcus?”
“Marcus and someone above him.”
Sadie looked confused.
“Above him?”
Victor explained.
“Marcus runs security. He cannot authorize construction transfers.”
“Then who can?”
Declan answered.
“Only four people.”
Victor.
Declan himself.
Chief financial officer Martin Keller.
And corporate attorney Adrian Shaw.
Sadie looked between them.
“One of them is helping Marcus.”
Declan nodded.
Victor said quietly,
“Possibly more than one.”
Morning light began creeping through the tall windows.
Sadie realized none of them had slept.
Her mother was safe.
Her arm throbbed.
Her entire life had somehow become attached to an eighty-million-dollar development scandal.
And she still needed to pay Green Hollow in less than three hours.
The absurdity struck her.
She laughed.
Declan looked at her.
“What?”
“The bill.”
“What bill?”
“My mother’s payment is due at eight.”
Declan stared.
Sadie laughed again.
“I’ve spent all night discovering a criminal conspiracy, and I’m still worried about an automatic bank withdrawal.”
Declan slowly reached for his phone.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“I’ll cancel it.”
“No.”
“They extorted you.”
“I know.”
“Then why would you pay them?”
“Because contracts exist.”
Victor smiled faintly.
Declan did not.
“You are remarkably stubborn.”
Sadie looked directly at him.
“I’ve had to be.”
That ended the argument.
Victor stepped away to call an attorney.
Declan remained beside Sadie.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then he said,
“You thought I was like them.”
Sadie knew exactly what he meant.
The men at her apartment.
Marcus.
The whispered reputation surrounding Declan.
“I didn’t know.”
“And now?”
She studied him.
“You scare me.”
He almost smiled.
“That’s fair.”
“But not for the reasons I expected.”
His expression became serious.
“What reasons now?”
Sadie glanced around the massive room.
“You notice things.”
Declan looked at the brace.
“I should have noticed sooner.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
Sadie hesitated.
“You knew I was right-handed.”
He said nothing.
“You knew what benefits I had.”
Still nothing.
“You remembered my name.”
Declan looked away.
Sadie’s curiosity sharpened.
“How long have you known my name?”
“Two years.”
She stared.
“You never spoke to me.”
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t know who you were.”
“Why?”
He gave a small shrug.
“You make cinnamon coffee.”
Sadie blinked.
“What?”
“Every Thursday.”
“That’s because Mrs. Price asks for cinnamon.”
“I know.”
“Then why—”
“I started asking her for it after tasting yours.”
Sadie stared.
For the first time all night, Declan Watters appeared almost uncomfortable.
It was unexpectedly charming.
She smiled.
A real smile.
Declan looked at it a second too long.
Victor returned and ruined the moment.
“We have a problem.”
Declan’s expression reset.
“What?”
“Martin Keller is gone.”
“The CFO?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“His wife says he left yesterday afternoon.”
“Destination?”
“She doesn’t know.”
Declan cursed softly.
Sadie asked,
“Was he one of the four?”
“Yes.”
Victor continued.
“And Adrian Shaw isn’t answering.”
Declan stared.
“Find him.”
“Already working.”
Sadie looked between them.
“Maybe Marcus isn’t coming because he doesn’t need to.”
Declan turned.
“What?”
“If Keller and Shaw are involved, Marcus isn’t the top.”
Victor understood immediately.
Sadie continued.
“You’re waiting for the man who broke the rules.”
She looked at Declan.
“But what if someone else wrote the rules for him?”
Silence.
Declan’s eyes changed.
He walked toward the long table.
On it sat fifteen security access cards collected overnight.
Fourteen belonged to Vane’s team.
The fifteenth was Marcus’s master credential, deactivated remotely.
Declan picked it up.
Then he looked at Victor.
“Stop looking down.”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
“We’ve been tracing employees.”
Declan held up the card.
“Trace ownership.”
“Shell companies?”
“All of them.”
“Back how far?”
“Ten years.”
Victor nodded and left again.
Sadie rubbed her forehead.
“I should go see my mother.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“You have an empire falling apart.”
“I have drivers.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Declan’s gaze held hers.
“I know.”
A strange silence passed between them.
Sadie felt something dangerous in it.
Not fear.
Something else.
She stepped away first.
Before they could continue, the house phone rang.
Mrs. Price answered from the doorway.
Her face changed.
“Mr. Watters?”
“Yes?”
“There are federal agents at the front gate.”
Nobody moved.
Sadie’s heartbeat jumped.
Declan remained calm.
“How many?”
“Twelve.”
Victor returned just in time to hear.
“Warrant?”
Mrs. Price nodded.
Victor swore.
“For what?”
She swallowed.
“Financial crimes connected to Harbor Renewal.”
Declan’s expression did not change.
Sadie understood immediately.
Someone had moved first.
The stolen money.
The fake authorizations.
Declan’s name.
Everything had been prepared.
Marcus was never coming to negotiate.
He was destroying Declan from a distance.
The mansion doors opened downstairs.
Voices entered.
Declan looked at Sadie.
For the first time since she had met him, the most feared man in Grayhaven looked less like a king and more like a man who had just discovered the throne beneath him was wired to explode.
And Sadie suddenly realized why she had been watched.
She had not been the target.
May you like
She was evidence.
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