Chapter 5 - The Unseen Puppeteer
""Wait!"" Grace shouted, coughing through the dust as the guard shoved her forward. ""Evan, don't give him your biometric thumbprint! He won't let any of us walk out of this room alive! He has an accomplice inside your family—someone who gave him your daily schedules and disabled the perimeter alarms!""
Evan froze. His gaze flickered from Vance’s sneering face to the cold, calculating eyes of Marcus Vance. ""An accomplice? Who?""
""Who do you think authorized Daniel's entry through the delivery bay in the first place?"" Claire Morgan’s calm voice cut through the tension as she stepped forward, raising her hands slowly to show she was unarmed. ""Marcus Vance didn't bribe my staff. He didn't have to. The temporary security overrides were signed by someone using an executive family pass from inside the Lee Corporation.""
Marcus Vance chuckled, shaking his head. ""Smart girl, Morgan. Too bad you didn't figure it out an hour earlier. Your beloved head of security, Peter Cho, isn't just an employee, Evan. He’s my silent business partner. For five years, Peter has been skimming funds from your logistics accounts. When Daniel stumbled into our South Boston sports book, Peter saw the golden opportunity: use the deadbeat brother-in-law as a convenient scapegoat, stage a violent kidnapping during the wedding, blame Grace for the internal breach, and walk away with two hundred million dollars in encrypted bearer bonds.""
The realization hit Evan like a physical blow to the chest. Peter Cho had been his father’s trusted lieutenant. Peter had stood beside Evan at his father’s funeral, had checked his cars for listening devices, and had practically raised him in corporate warfare. To discover that the man he treated like family was the monster pulling the strings was a betrayal that eclipsed every secret Grace had ever kept.
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""Peter told me Grace was a gold-digger from day one,"" Evan said softly, his voice trembling with icy rage. ""He fed me doubts every time she tried to talk to me about Daniel's debts.""
""Because he needed you isolated, Evan!"" Grace cried out, tears finally breaking through her stoic expression. ""I found Peter's offshore accounts two days ago on Daniel's laptop. I was coming to tell you this morning, but Peter intercepted me outside my suite. He threatened to kill Daniel right in front of me if I said a word before the wedding began!""
