She Thought He Was a Poor Taxi Driver… He Was a Billionaire, but Why Was He Hiding His Identity?
Chapter 3
Rachel and Ethan started meeting outside work.
At first, it was practical.
Coffee.
Dinner after long audit sessions.
A walk through the financial district.
Then it became something else.
Rachel didn’t care about his wealth.
She barely mentioned it.
She never asked about his car.
His house.
His lifestyle.
She asked about books.
Music.
Family.
She discovered he hated formal parties.
He discovered she secretly loved old detective movies.
One evening, she asked:
“Do you ever miss being anonymous?”
Ethan smiled.
“All the time.”
“Why?”
“People are more honest when they think nobody important is listening.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Do you think everyone lies to powerful people?”
“Not everyone.”
“Most?”
“Enough.”
She laughed.
“You’re cynical.”
“Probably.”
“Yet you seem to trust me.”
Ethan paused.
“I do.”
She smiled.
That night, she told him about her father.
He had died when she was twenty-three.
Her mother had passed several years earlier.
Rachel had built her career without family connections.
She was proud of that.
“My parents taught me never to depend on someone else’s name.”
Ethan understood.
His own family name had defined him for most of his life.
“I like that.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“Your parents were right.”
“You’re avoiding talking about yours.”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“You do that a lot.”
“I know.”
Meanwhile, the investigation deepened.
Rachel discovered a series of payments to a company called North Vale Consulting.
The company didn’t appear to have employees.
Its address was a mailbox.
Its owner was hidden behind a trust.
Ethan’s legal team traced the trust to a private account in Switzerland.
Then they found another connection.
North Vale had been paid shortly before several major Cole Meridian contracts were awarded.
Someone was taking commissions.
Graham denied involvement.
But then another executive disappeared.
A financial analyst named Daniel Price.
He had been helping Rachel review the numbers.
His apartment was empty.
His phone was gone.
His car was abandoned.
Rachel was shaken.
“He knew something.”
Ethan nodded.
“Probably.”
“Do you think he’s alive?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked at him.
“You’re not scared.”
“I am.”
“You don’t look scared.”
“I learned a long time ago not to show it.”
Rachel touched his hand.
“You don’t always have to be strong.”
Ethan looked at her.
“That advice sounds familiar.”
“From whom?”
“My mother.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died when I was young.”
Rachel softened.
“I’m sorry.”
Ethan nodded.
He didn’t tell her the rest.
His mother had died under suspicious circumstances.
A financial scandal had surrounded his father’s company.
The official report called it an accident.
Ethan had never believed it.
That was one reason he distrusted his own executives.
One reason he had started hiding.
One reason he wanted the truth.
Then Rachel found something.
A payment from North Vale to a hospital.
The date was twenty-two years earlier.
The patient name was partially redacted.
But the initials were visible.
E.C.
Ethan’s initials.
Rachel looked at him.
“This can’t be a coincidence.”
Ethan stared at the document.
No.
It wasn’t.
Someone had been using the same financial network since before he was old enough to understand what money meant.
