Chapter 3 - Stephanie’s Hidden Insurance
Jason had built his fortune by learning one rule early:
Panic makes expensive mistakes.
So while everyone else stared toward the windows, Jason did the opposite.
He looked at Lucas.
“Name.”
Lucas shook his head.
“Jason—”
“Name.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
Lucas glanced toward the witnesses.
“Not in front of them.”
Jason almost laughed.
“You lost the right to choose your audience.”
Jaden approached.
“The property is secure.”
“For how long?”
Jaden didn’t answer immediately.
“That depends on who’s outside.”
Paulie checked the security feed.
“Vehicles stopped beyond the outer gate.”
Jason nodded.
Nobody had entered.
That mattered.
This wasn’t an attack.
It was pressure.
The caller wanted Lucas frightened enough to cooperate.
Jason looked at his brother again.
“Name.”
Lucas finally spoke.
“Victor Dane.”
Emmanuel closed his eyes.
The waitress looked confused.
Miriam whispered, “Who?”
Jason knew the name.
Not personally.
But professionally.
Victor Dane was a financier whose businesses appeared everywhere and nowhere. He invested through holding companies, private funds and silent partnerships.
Jason had met him twice.
Both times, Victor had seemed polished, quiet and forgettable.
Now Jason understood that forgettable might have been deliberate.
“How long?”
“Four years.”
Jason stared at Lucas.
Four years.
“You’ve been working with him for four years?”
Lucas shook his head.
“Not working for him.”
“What would you call it?”
Lucas looked ashamed.
“A partnership.”
Emmanuel laughed bitterly.
“Tell him how the partnership started.”
Lucas glared at him.
Jason waited.
Finally Lucas spoke.
“I made a bad investment.”
“How bad?”
“Eight million.”
Benita’s eyes widened.
Jason said nothing.
Lucas continued.
“I thought I could replace it before anyone noticed.”
Jason understood immediately.
“You took company money.”
Lucas looked away.
Jason felt something inside him break.
Not because of the money.
Eight million dollars could be recovered.
Trust could not.
“Victor found out,” Lucas continued. “Before you did.”
“And instead of exposing you?”
“He offered to help.”
Jason nodded slowly.
“Of course he did.”
Lucas rubbed his hands together.
“He covered the shortfall. Then he asked for favors.”
“Money laundering?”
“Not at first.”
“Shell companies?”
Lucas said nothing.
Jason had his answer.
“One favor became another,” Lucas said.
“And Stephanie found out.”
Lucas closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Jason’s voice became quieter.
“What happened to her?”
Lucas looked at him.
For several seconds, nobody breathed.
Then Lucas said:
“I didn’t kill Stephanie.”
Jason’s jaw tightened.
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I swear to you.”
“What happened?”
Lucas looked toward Emmanuel.
Emmanuel stared back.
Lucas finally spoke.
“She found the records.”
“We know.”
“She confronted me.”
“We know that too.”
“I told her to forget what she saw.”
Jason’s fingers curled.
“And?”
“She refused.”
Lucas swallowed.
“She said she was going to you.”
Jason’s chest tightened.
“So you stopped her.”
“I tried to.”
“How?”
“I called Victor.”
Silence.
Jason looked at his brother as if seeing a stranger.
“You handed her to him.”
“No!”
Lucas leaned forward.
“I told him there was a problem. I thought he would scare her.”
Emmanuel shook his head.
“You knew better.”
Lucas shouted, “I DIDN’T KNOW!”
The sound filled the mansion.
Then silence returned.
Lucas lowered his voice.
“I didn’t know what would happen.”
Jason studied him.
Perhaps Lucas believed that.
Perhaps that was how he had survived his own guilt.
By changing “I knew” into “I should have known.”
Jason turned toward Emmanuel.
“Stephanie’s evidence.”
Emmanuel nodded.
“She created copies.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
Lucas looked up.
“You said it was inside the empire.”
“It is.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she told me.”
Emmanuel remembered the conversation.
“She said, ‘If anything happens to me, the truth is sitting somewhere Jason will eventually find it.’”
Jason frowned.
“Somewhere I would find it?”
“Yes.”
“What did she mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Jason looked around the mansion.
His empire included dozens of businesses, properties, warehouses, offices, investments and foundations.
It could be anywhere.
Then Benita spoke.
“What did Stephanie know about Jason?”
Everyone looked at her.
Benita continued.
“Not his businesses. Him.”
Jason frowned.
“She knew me better than almost anyone.”
“Then maybe the hiding place wasn’t chosen because it was secure.”
Benita looked at Jason.
“Maybe she chose it because she knew you would eventually go there.”
That changed the question.
Jason closed his eyes.
Where would Stephanie expect him to go?
His main office?
Too obvious.
His home?
Lucas had access.
The family foundation?
Possible.
Then Jason remembered something.
A building.
An old building.
The first property Jason had ever bought after becoming successful.
He had refused to sell it despite countless offers.
Stephanie used to tease him about it.
“You’ll be a billionaire and still keep that dusty old place because you’re sentimental.”
Jason opened his eyes.
“The Mercer building.”
Lucas’s face changed.
Jason saw it.
“You know it?”
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“I didn’t.”
Jason looked toward Paulie.
“Call the security manager at Mercer.”
Paulie made the call.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Jaden frowned.
“When was the last time anyone checked the property?”
Jason thought.
Months.
The building was mostly used for archives now.
Paulie checked his tablet.
“Jason.”
“What?”
“There was an access request three days ago.”
“By whom?”
Paulie stared at the screen.
Then looked toward Lucas.
“Lucas Omaly.”
Everyone turned.
Lucas stood.
“That wasn’t me.”
Jason stared at him.
“You accessed Mercer?”
“No.”
“The system says you did.”
“I’m telling you, I didn’t.”
Jason initially assumed another lie.
Then he saw Lucas’s expression.
Confusion.
Real confusion.
Paulie continued scrolling.
“Badge entry at 2:13 a.m.”
Lucas shook his head.
“I was home.”
Jason looked at Jaden.
“Can we verify that?”
“Yes.”
Lucas stepped forward.
“Jason, listen to me. If somebody used my credentials—”
The lights went out.
Benita gasped.
The mansion fell into darkness.
Emergency lights activated seconds later, bathing the room in dim amber.
Jaden immediately moved beside Jason.
Paulie checked his tablet.
“Power was cut externally.”
Lucas whispered something.
Jason looked at him.
“What?”
Lucas stared toward the dark windows.
“They’re not trying to get in.”
Jason followed his gaze.
“Then what are they doing?”
Lucas looked at him.
“They’re buying time.”
“For what?”
Lucas answered.
“To reach Mercer before you do.”
Jason’s phone vibrated.
A message.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
There was a photograph.
The Mercer building.
Taken minutes earlier.
Someone was already inside.
Beneath the picture were six words:
SOME SECRETS SHOULD STAY WITH THE DEAD.
Jason stared at the screen.
Then he looked toward Lucas.
“Whoever Victor sent is already there.”
Lucas shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
Lucas stared at the photograph.
“That isn’t Victor’s message.”
Jason frowned.
“How do you know?”
“Victor doesn’t threaten people like that.”
Lucas looked terrified again.
“He doesn’t need to.”
Jason’s voice lowered.
“Then who sent it?”
Lucas looked at Stephanie’s ex.
Emmanuel had gone pale.
And Jason realized Emmanuel knew.
“Tell me.”
Emmanuel swallowed.
“There was someone else helping Stephanie.”
Jason stared at him.
“Who?”
Emmanuel whispered:
“Someone inside your family.”
May you like
And suddenly Lucas was no longer the only Omaly Jason needed to investigate.
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