Chapter 7 - The Second Channel
There was another source.
That was what Martin meant.
Rachel believed it immediately.
Daniel did too.
Olivia didn't want to.
Evelyn had already explained too much.
Her schedules.
Her travel.
The printouts.
The leaked Prescott numbers.
It felt sufficient.
People wanted one villain because one villain created a clean story.
Reality rarely cooperated.
Investigators reviewed Martin's seized records again.
Some information predated Evelyn's involvement.
Three years earlier.
Board communications Martin should never have seen.
Internal salary discussions.
Proposed acquisitions.
Private investor concerns.
“Someone else has been feeding him information,” Rachel said.
Olivia looked around the conference room.
“Who?”
Nobody answered.
The board vote was suspended.
Charles Wexler resigned as chairman while investigators reviewed his communications.
His attorney released a statement claiming he had merely listened to Martin's concerns about executive leadership.
Olivia believed approximately none of it.
Still, Charles wasn't the second source.
He had joined the scheme too recently.
Then Jordan asked a question adults had missed.
They were sitting at the family housing organization's office.
Melissa had a meeting with a caseworker.
Olivia had offered to drive them.
Melissa had refused.
So Olivia came anyway and waited downstairs.
Jordan walked into the lobby carrying two vending-machine sodas.
He handed one to Olivia.
She looked at it.
“You bought me this?”
“You always drink weird expensive water.”
“So?”
“Try normal stuff.”
Olivia opened it.
“Thank you.”
Jordan sat beside her.
“Did they arrest him?”
“Martin?”
“Yeah.”
“He is being questioned. His attorneys are involved.”
Jordan rolled his eyes.
“Rich people get lots of attorneys.”
“Yes.”
“You do too.”
“Yes.”
He considered that.
“Fair.”
Olivia smiled.
Then Jordan asked, “How did he know where you were before the nanny started helping him?”
Olivia looked at him.
“What?”
“You said the stuff goes back years.”
“How do you know that?”
“You were talking to the lawyer.”
“You were listening?”
“You were talking loud.”
Olivia made a note to herself to never discuss confidential matters near Jordan Reed.
“He had another source,” she said.
Jordan thought.
“Someone at your work?”
“Probably.”
“Then why do you keep looking at the nanny?”
Olivia frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“You keep trying to figure out who else talked to the bad guy.”
“Yes.”
“But if it happened before the nanny, maybe it's somebody who was already around when he worked there.”
Olivia stared at him.
Obviously.
So obvious it irritated her.
Martin had co-founded the company.
He knew everybody.
Olivia had been thinking about betrayal as recruitment.
Someone Martin contacted after leaving.
What if he never lost the person?
Back at Hayes Capital, she asked IT security for a list of employees whose access privileges had remained unchanged through Martin's departure.
Thirty-seven names.
Senior executives.
Administrative staff.
Finance.
IT.
Legal operations.
Olivia scanned the list.
One name made her stop.
Patrick Dyer.
Chief administrative officer.
Fifty-one.
Hayes-Sloan employee number seventeen.
Patrick had coordinated Martin's office years earlier before Olivia promoted him.
He had remained with Olivia after the split.
Reliable.
Quiet.
Invisible.
Olivia almost laughed at the irony.
Invisible.
She had missed another person.
For completely different reasons.
Patrick had access to board scheduling, facilities, travel support and archived corporate records.
More than enough.
Daniel investigated.
Two days later, they had the answer.
Martin had been paying Patrick through consulting invoices routed to a company owned by Patrick's adult son.
Years.
Not months.
Patrick had never stopped working for Martin.
Evelyn was an extra channel.
A personal one.
Martin had wanted corporate information from Patrick and private movement from Evelyn.
Together, the two sources gave him almost complete visibility into Olivia's life.
Patrick was escorted from Hayes Capital on Thursday morning.
Employees watched silently.
Olivia stood inside her office.
She didn't feel victorious.
Only tired.
Rachel joined her.
“It's over.”
“No.”
“Mostly.”
“No.”
Rachel followed Olivia's gaze.
Across the street, a boy in a gray sweatshirt stood beside Melissa.
They were waiting for the housing caseworker.
Jordan looked up toward the tower, though there was no chance he could see Olivia through the glass.
“This started because of him,” Olivia said.
Rachel nodded.
“No.”
Olivia looked at her.
“It started because Martin committed crimes.”
Olivia almost smiled.
“You really refuse to let anyone make a dramatic statement.”
“Occupational hazard.”
The legal consequences unfolded over the next several weeks.
Martin faced charges tied to unlawful access, corporate theft and interference with confidential business information.
Patrick cooperated.
Evelyn eventually did too.
Her cooperation helped investigators reconstruct the timeline.
Charles escaped the most serious allegations but resigned from the board after internal records showed he had knowingly entertained Martin's campaign to remove Olivia without disclosing their meetings.
Prescott reopened discussions.
Olivia declined.
Her CFO nearly fainted.
“You spent six months chasing them.”
“I know.”
“They came back.”
“I know.”
“And you're saying no?”
“For now.”
“Why?”
Olivia looked at the stack of documents on her desk.
“Because I chased the deal after it stopped making sense.”
Her CFO blinked.
“That doesn't sound like you.”
“I know.”
She was changing.
Slowly.
Not magically.
She still checked email during breakfast.
Still took calls too late.
Still became impatient when meetings drifted past their scheduled end.
But every afternoon at three, she blocked forty minutes on her calendar.
No meetings.
No calls unless somebody was bleeding or the building was on fire.
She collected Grace herself.
One Tuesday, Grace ran out of school carrying a paper crown.
“Mommy!”
Olivia crouched as Grace crashed into her.
“What is this?”
“I'm Queen of California.”
“That sounds expensive.”
Grace laughed.
Then pointed across the street.
“Jordan!”
Olivia turned.
Jordan was standing beside the bus shelter.
But something had changed.
He wore a clean navy jacket.
His backpack looked new.
Melissa stood beside him holding a folder.
Olivia walked over.
“You got it?”
Melissa smiled cautiously.
“We got approved.”
Transitional apartment.
Six months with case management.
Employment support.
Rental assistance after that if needed.
Olivia felt ridiculous relief.
“Where?”
“Richmond District.”
Jordan groaned.
“Tiny.”
Melissa elbowed him.
“It has two bedrooms.”
Jordan corrected himself.
“It's enormous.”
Olivia smiled.
Melissa looked at her.
“I know you made calls.”
Olivia didn't lie.
“I asked the organization whether there were legitimate resources available.”
“You donated.”
“After you were approved.”
Melissa shook her head.
“I checked.”
“You checked?”
“I don't trust rich people.”
Jordan nodded solemnly.
“Family trait.”
Olivia laughed.
Melissa's expression softened.
“Thank you.”
“You don't owe me that.”
“I know.”
That mattered.
Jordan looked at Olivia.
“So what happens to Evelyn?”
“She'll probably avoid prison if she continues cooperating.”
He frowned.
“You're okay with that?”
“No.”
“Then why—”
“Because consequences don't always look the way we want.”
Jordan considered this.
“That sounds like lawyer stuff.”
“It probably is.”
Grace tugged his sleeve.
“Want to see my crown?”
“No.”
“It's awesome.”
“Looks stupid.”
Grace gasped.
Olivia waited for a fight.
Instead Jordan took the crown and put it on his head.
Grace shrieked with laughter.
For one small moment, he looked exactly twelve.
No guarded eyes.
No defensive posture.
No backpack held close as though everything he owned might disappear if he loosened his grip.
Just a kid wearing a paper crown.
Olivia looked away before anyone noticed the emotion on her face.
Her phone vibrated.
She pulled it out automatically.
Board message.
Important.
She stared.
Then slid the phone back into her pocket without reading it.
Jordan noticed.
“Whoa.”
“What?”
“You ignored your phone.”
“I do that.”
“No, you don't.”
Grace nodded.
“You really don't.”
Olivia sighed.
“Wonderful. Everyone is a critic.”
They started walking.
Jordan suddenly stopped.
“Ms. Hayes?”
“Yes?”
“I gotta tell you something.”
Olivia felt an irrational stab of fear.
“What?”
He looked serious.
Then pointed toward the corner.
“Your car's parked in a loading zone.”
Olivia stared.
Jordan grinned.
“Thought you liked rules.”
May you like
For the first time in weeks, Olivia laughed until her eyes watered.
---
