A Female CEO Made a Single Dad Pick Up Her VIP Guest—and Then the VIP Asked, “Why Isn’t He the One Running Your Company?”
Chapter 8
Mark Ellis disappeared before they could confront him.
His office was empty.
His access badge had been deactivated.
His apartment was abandoned.
His car was found two states away.
Victoria slammed a folder onto the table.
“How did we miss him?”
Ethan shook his head.
“He kept a low profile.”
“He sat in executive meetings.”
“So did everyone else.”
Charles looked at them.
“That’s why we need to stop looking at titles.”
Ethan nodded.
“Look at behavior.”
They reviewed internal communications.
Mark had been involved in suspicious vendor approvals.
He had access to confidential acquisition plans.
He had communicated with Richard.
But there was no proof he was the mastermind.
Then Ethan noticed something.
A recurring transfer.
Twenty thousand dollars.
Every month.
To a private school.
He searched the name.
The school was in the same district where Lily studied.
Ethan’s blood ran cold.
Mark wasn’t targeting the company anymore.
He was targeting him.
They rushed to Lily’s school.
She was safe.
But her teacher said a man had been watching the building for several days.
Security footage showed Mark.
Ethan felt sick.
He called Victoria.
“Get her out of the building.”
“She’s already with me.”
Victoria had arrived before Ethan.
Lily came running.
“Dad!”
He hugged her.
Victoria crouched beside them.
“Hi, Lily.”
Lily looked at her.
“Are you Dad’s boss?”
Victoria smiled.
“Sometimes.”
Lily giggled.
“He talks about you.”
Ethan looked embarrassed.
“I do not.”
Victoria laughed.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Lily smiled.
For a moment, the danger disappeared.
Then the security alarm sounded.
Everyone froze.
The principal shouted.
“Lockdown!”
Victoria grabbed Lily’s hand.
Ethan moved them toward a secure classroom.
Security officers closed the doors.
Ten minutes later, police arrived.
Mark was not found.
But he had left a message.
On Ethan’s car.
YOU SHOULD HAVE ACCEPTED THE PROMOTION.
Ethan stared.
“What promotion?”
Victoria frowned.
Mark had tried to take Ethan’s position years earlier.
He had been rejected.
The resentment had never disappeared.
The investigation revealed Mark had been working with Richard.
But his real goal was revenge.
He wanted Ethan blamed for operational failures.
He had sabotaged systems.
Stolen credentials.
Manipulated reports.
And when Ethan became COO, Mark panicked.
He had assumed Ethan would uncover everything.
He was right.
The police eventually arrested him.
But there was still one unresolved question.
Who had funded him?
The answer came from an offshore account.
The money originated from a company called North Star Holdings.
Charles recognized the name immediately.
“I’ve been trying to buy this company for two years.”
Victoria frowned.
“Why?”
“Because it owns the patents for the technology you were planning to acquire.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You said someone wanted Sterling weak.”
Charles nodded.
“North Star was behind it.”
“Who owns North Star?”
Charles paused.
“An individual trust.”
“Whose?”
Charles looked toward Victoria.
“Your mother.”
Victoria felt her face go pale.
“But she’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“How can she own it?”
Charles opened the file.
“She transferred ownership before her death.”
“To whom?”
He turned the page.
Victoria read the name.
Her own.
She stared.
“I own North Star?”
Charles nodded.
“You’ve owned it for four years.”
Ethan looked at her.
Victoria whispered:
“I didn’t know.”
And then she understood.
Her mother hadn’t built the network to steal Sterling.
She had built it to control Victoria.
Everything had been arranged so that one day Victoria would unknowingly control a company worth billions.
Then North Star would acquire Sterling.
And Victoria would own both.
The ultimate merger.
The ultimate trap.
