Chapter 3 - The First Missing Record
Evelyn did not intend to investigate Dominic.
She only wanted proof that he was the father and a legal agreement protecting their daughter.
But Dominic began erasing evidence.
Photographs disappeared from the shared cloud account they had once used. Restaurant reservations were canceled from digital records. Security logs from his building suddenly showed that Evelyn had never visited.
Even old messages vanished from a phone Dominic had purchased for her.
Fortunately, Evelyn had kept her previous device.
On it were months of conversations, photographs, travel confirmations, and voice messages. She copied everything onto encrypted drives and delivered one to her closest friend, attorney Naomi Reed.
Naomi specialized in corporate fraud.
After reviewing the material, she frowned.
“This is more than a man hiding an affair.”
“What do you mean?”
“These payments he offered you came from a company called Blue Harbor Consulting. Have you heard of it?”
Evelyn shook her head.
Naomi turned her laptop around. Blue Harbor had no employees, no listed office, and no obvious business activity. Yet it had transferred millions through accounts connected to Vale Meridian.
Several payments ended at charities associated with the Arden family.
Celeste’s name appeared as an authorized director on one document.
Evelyn felt a chill.
“Does that mean she knows?”
“Not necessarily. Wealthy families put names on companies all the time. But Dominic may be using the merger to bury something.”
Naomi advised Evelyn not to confront him.
They filed a private request to preserve relevant financial records and began collecting evidence legally. Evelyn continued attending medical appointments while Dominic avoided her calls.
Then a package arrived at her apartment.
It contained no message.
Inside was an old brass key and a storage receipt bearing the initials R.V.
Naomi traced the initials to Richard Vale, Dominic’s former chief financial officer and uncle.
Richard had disappeared from public life three years earlier after being accused of stealing from the company.
Dominic had repeatedly described him as a bitter criminal.
The key belonged to a secure document vault at a private storage facility.
Inside the vault, Evelyn and Naomi found a black accounting ledger.
The first page carried a handwritten warning.
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Dominic did not build the empire.
He buried the people who did.
