Single Dad Sat Alone at the Bar—Then His Cold CEO Boss Smiled and Asked, “Will You Buy Me a Drink?”
Chapter 8
The investigation uncovered a hidden company.
It was registered under three shell corporations.
The official owner was unknown.
But Daniel found a connection.
The shell company had purchased a private investment fund six years earlier.
The fund had one original investor.
Graham Pierce.
Victoria stared at the documents.
“My chairman.”
Daniel nodded.
“But there is something else.”
“What?”
“He wasn’t working alone.”
Daniel opened another file.
The second investor was the CFO.
The third was the head of procurement.
Together, they had siphoned more than $140 million.
“But why blame me?” Daniel asked.
Victoria thought.
“Because you were working on the internal restructuring.”
He frowned.
“What does that matter?”
“You’re the one who discovered the duplicated vendors.”
“So they needed a scapegoat.”
“Exactly.”
Victoria sat back.
“They needed someone nobody would suspect.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“The single dad with the old car.”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“They thought I’d be easy to destroy.”
Victoria’s eyes hardened.
“They were wrong.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
Then his expression changed.
“Victoria.”
“What?”
“The payments to my account.”
“What about them?”
“They started before I joined the restructuring team.”
She looked closer.
The first payment had been made seven months before Daniel started the project.
Victoria frowned.
“Then this wasn’t created recently.”
“No.”
She scanned the records.
“Someone has been using you for years.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
“Why me?”
Victoria looked at the dates.
Then she saw something strange.
The payments began exactly three weeks after Daniel’s wife died.
She looked at him.
“Daniel.”
He went still.
“What?”
“Your wife’s life insurance.”
He stared.
“What about it?”
“Who was the beneficiary?”
“Her mother.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Victoria opened another file.
“The policy was transferred six months before her death.”
Daniel stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“Look.”
His wife’s signature appeared on the transfer.
But Daniel immediately shook his head.
“That’s not her signature.”
They looked at one another.
Suddenly the story became much darker.
Daniel’s wife hadn’t simply died and left him alone.
Someone had accessed her insurance.
Someone had manipulated the records.
And the person responsible had been using Daniel’s identity ever since.
Victoria whispered,
“Your wife’s death may not have been an accident.”
Daniel couldn’t breathe.
“My God.”
Then his phone rang.
A message from the same unknown number.
You are finally asking the right question.
Then another.
Your wife was killed because of Victoria’s company.
Daniel looked at Victoria.
The room seemed to tilt.
