Chapter 8 - Someone Inside Cross Holdings
At 6:40 p.m., Adrian called an emergency meeting.
Only five people were invited.
Adrian.
Mara.
Claire.
Cross Holdings general counsel Henry Shaw.
And Adrian’s uncle, Thomas Cross.
Claire watched Thomas enter.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Warm smile.
He embraced Adrian.
“What the hell is happening?”
Adrian gave nothing away.
“We identified suspicious transfers.”
Thomas looked toward Claire.
“And she is?”
“Claire Bennett.”
Recognition flashed.
“Daniel Bennett’s wife.”
“Ex-wife,” Claire said.
“Of course.”
Thomas smiled politely.
“I’ve seen the news.”
Claire disliked him immediately.
Not because of the evidence.
Because his eyes assessed rather than greeted.
Adrian laid out only part of the scheme.
Six accounts.
Tonight’s accelerated transfer.
Possible internal compromise.
Thomas reacted exactly as an innocent executive might.
Shock.
Anger.
Questions.
Too perfectly.
Claire watched his hands.
He never touched the water in front of him.
Never checked his phone.
Never interrupted.
Prepared people were often calmer than surprised people.
Adrian asked, “Who knew the internal audit schedule?”
Thomas answered.
“Calder. Legal. Finance. You. Me.”
“And payment approvals?”
“Several people.”
“Names.”
Thomas listed them.
Claire noticed he omitted one.
Himself.
Technically, vice-chair approvals occurred only above certain thresholds.
The stolen payments had been structured just below those thresholds.
Someone had designed the amounts to avoid Thomas.
Or to make it look that way.
Claire wrote a number on paper and slid it toward Adrian.
$499,000.
He glanced at her.
She wrote:
Why always below $500K?
He understood.
Cross Holdings required secondary executive approval for payments of $500,000 or more.
The theft had been designed around Thomas’s signature.
Convenient.
Maybe too convenient.
Adrian ended the meeting.
Thomas approached Claire afterward.
“Daniel made a serious mistake.”
Claire held his gaze.
“Which one?”
“Losing you.”
She smiled faintly.
“That’s generous.”
“I mean professionally.”
“Of course.”
Thomas glanced toward Adrian.
“My nephew has always collected talented people.”
The phrasing bothered her.
Collected.
“Does he?”
“Loyalty matters to Adrian.”
“It matters to most people.”
Thomas smiled.
“Not like it does to him.”
He left.
Claire waited until the door closed.
“He knows.”
Mara looked at her.
“Based on?”
“He spoke about loyalty before anyone accused him.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“I noticed.”
Claire added, “And he framed you as someone who collects people.”
“So?”
“So men like Daniel explain relationships as ownership.”
Adrian studied her.
“And Thomas?”
“I think he does too.”
Mara’s phone buzzed.
“Transfer initiated.”
Everyone moved.
Millions began traveling through legitimate Cross Holdings payments into vendor accounts.
Law enforcement watched.
Cross cybersecurity tracked.
Claire followed each stage.
The first four transfers behaved exactly as predicted.
The fifth stalled.
“Why?” Adrian asked.
Claire zoomed into the transaction.
“Manual review.”
“By whom?”
Mara checked.
“Executive override.”
Adrian went still.
“Name.”
A second later:
“Thomas Cross.”
The room became silent.
Claire exhaled.
“He knows we changed the pattern.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Stop everything.”
Mara began issuing instructions.
Then all screens went black.
Claire stared.
“What happened?”
“Network isolation,” a technician shouted through the intercom.
“External?”
“No. Internal.”
Emergency lights flickered.
Adrian immediately moved toward Claire.
“Stay with me.”
“What—”
An alarm sounded.
Not fire.
Security breach.
Mara pulled a weapon from beneath her jacket.
“Garage access compromised.”
Adrian grabbed Claire’s hand.
The gesture happened without thought.
She noticed.
So did he.
But neither released.
They moved through a secure corridor toward a hardened room behind the executive suite.
Leo met them halfway.
“West elevators disabled.”
“Thomas?” Adrian asked.
“Gone.”
Of course.
They entered the secure room.
The door locked.
Inside, backup systems activated.
Mara restored limited network access.
The transfer data reappeared.
Three payments had been stopped.
Two were frozen.
One had completed.
$18.4 million.
“To where?” Claire asked.
The analyst traced.
“Cayman intermediary.”
“Then?”
“Moving.”
Claire watched.
Singapore.
Then Luxembourg.
Then a digital asset exchange.
“They’re breaking it apart,” she said.
Adrian looked at Mara.
“Can we freeze?”
“Some.”
Claire saw another line.
“Wait.”
One transfer was not moving abroad.
It was coming back.
Into Chicago.
“Why return money?”
Mara frowned.
Claire expanded the destination.
An LLC.
She recognized the address.
Her throat closed.
“That’s Daniel’s building.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“Bennett Capital.”
The account was not an escape route.
It was payment.
Daniel was being paid tonight.
But for what?
Then a message appeared on Claire’s phone.
Unknown number.
You should have taken the bus to Arizona.
Her blood went cold.
A second message arrived.
A photograph.
Taken minutes earlier.
Claire sitting inside the secure room.
Adrian standing beside her.
Someone was watching them live.
Mara looked toward the ceiling cameras.
“They’re inside our security feed.”
Adrian grabbed the phone.
Another message arrived.
Ask Cross how much one woman is worth.
Claire looked at Adrian.
He stared at the words.
Then the secure-room lights went out.
Total darkness.
A voice came through the emergency speaker.
Thomas Cross.
“Adrian.”
Claire heard Adrian’s breathing beside her.
Thomas continued.
“You always were sentimental.”
Adrian’s answer was cold.
“You picked the wrong woman.”
Thomas laughed softly.
“No.”
The speaker crackled.
“I picked the only one who could make you careless.”
And for the first time, Claire understood something neither of them had been willing to name.
This was no longer only about money.
Someone had noticed that Adrian Cross had started caring whether Claire Bennett lived or died.
May you like
And now they intended to use that against him.
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