Chapter 5 - Decrypting the Lie
Jax didn't waste time with shock. He pulled open a heavy metal footlocker, revealing an arsenal of military-grade weaponry.
"If it’s Marcus, he has the entire corporate security force at his disposal," Jax said, tossing Eleanor a lightweight kevlar vest. "He’s been playing the loyal servant for nearly a decade. Why?"
"Money. Power," Eleanor said, strapping the vest over her ruined gown. "My husband Richard found out Marcus was embezzling millions. Richard died in a 'car accident' a week later. Then Leo was taken. Marcus stepped up to help the 'grieving widow' run the empire, keeping me so paralyzed by grief that I never looked at the books."
Eleanor walked over to Jax’s laptop. She logged into the Vance Holdings emergency backdoor—a master protocol she had built herself and told no one about. She bypassed the security walls Marcus had erected over the years and found the shell companies Hayes had tried to warn her about.
There it was. "Red Velvet LLC." A ghost company, holding over two billion dollars in stolen assets, registered to a dummy corporation under Marcus's maiden name.
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Rage, cold and sharp as a diamond, settled in Eleanor’s chest. For seven years, she had cried on this man's shoulder. She had let him schedule her therapy appointments. She had let him buy the candles for the cake.
"He’s going to Pier 44 expecting to find me vulnerable," Eleanor said, her voice devoid of any human warmth. She picked up a customized Glock 19 from the footlocker, checking the magazine with terrifying efficiency. "Let’s go give my secretary his severance package."
