Chapter 2 - The Missing Files
Darius stared at the glowing screen of his phone.
The anonymous threat made his blood run cold.
He immediately looked around the crowded farmers market.
Dozens of people were buying produce, but no one seemed to be watching them.
"We need to leave right now," Darius told his mother.
Evelyn saw the panic in his eyes and did not argue.
Darius walked her to his armored SUV and told his driver to take her straight to the estate.
Once she was safe, he drove himself to the downtown headquarters of Bennett Cold Logistics.
The massive glass building had always been a symbol of his success.
Now, it felt like a crime scene.
He took his private elevator to the executive floor.
It was Saturday, so the offices were completely empty.
Darius bypassed his own office and walked directly to the financial archives room.
His hands shook as he typed in the master override code to open the steel door.
He spent the next three hours pulling physical ledger boxes from seven years ago.
He compared the old shipping manifests with the digital banking records.
His mother was right.
There were phantom shipments logged every single week.
Millions of dollars were being funneled into a shell corporation based in the Cayman Islands.
The signature authorizing every single fraudulent transfer belonged to Marcus.
Darius felt a wave of nausea wash over him.
He had divorced the only woman who ever truly loved him because he trusted a thief.
He picked up the final file to take a photo of the evidence.
Suddenly, the heavy steel door of the archive room clicked shut and locked from the outside.
The lights in the windowless room violently flickered and then died completely.
May you like
A voice echoed through the room's intercom system.
"You really should have left the past alone, my friend," Marcus said softly.
