Chapter 10 - THE MAN INSIDE MY COMPANY
Peter Lang had spent twelve years standing ten feet from me.
That was the part I couldn’t understand.
He attended executive retreats.
He helped investigate threats against my family.
He sat at our Christmas dinners.
After Nathan died, Peter had personally handed me the investigation summary declaring the explosion accidental.
Of course he had.
He had written his own alibi.
Lauren and the twins were moved immediately.
Not to my house.
Not to a hotel.
A secure federal location.
Peter’s phone was off.
His apartment empty.
Bank accounts recently drained.
But Marcus found something.
A recurring transfer.
Every quarter, for eleven years.
From a Cayman entity linked to Whitmore Holdings.
Margaret had been paying him.
The investigation widened.
Suddenly past incidents looked different.
A whistleblower who recanted.
A former Whitmore accountant who vanished.
A reporter whose burglary destroyed documents relating to Margaret.
Peter wasn’t merely security.
He was Margaret’s cleaner.
Margaret denied everything.
Until prosecutors showed her the marina footage.
Then she asked for a lawyer and stopped smiling.
Emily called me from New York.
“Caleb wants to speak to you.”
The boy sounded stronger.
“Mr. Cole?”
“Daniel.”
“Okay.”
“What is it?”
“I remember Peter.”
My skin tightened.
“From when your mother disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He was at our house.”
“With Margaret and Arthur?”
“Yes.”
“Did he hurt Rachel?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did you hear?”
Caleb paused.
“He said, ‘The kid stays.’”
“What kid?”
“Me.”
I understood.
Peter had wanted Caleb alive.
Why?
Caleb continued.
“Mom yelled that she had copies.”
“Copies of what?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Emily came back on.
“Rachel wants to talk.”
Rachel was with investigators now.
She confirmed it.
She had copied records showing Sophie’s birth and Nathan’s paternity.
Margaret sent Peter to retrieve them.
Arthur arrived separately, intending to convince Rachel to disappear.
The confrontation became violent.
Rachel screamed.
Caleb heard it.
But Arthur did not abduct her.
He helped her escape through the back entrance.
Peter believed Arthur had taken her.
“Why didn’t Peter kill Caleb?” I asked.
Rachel went silent.
“Because I told Margaret the copies were set to release automatically if Caleb died.”
Smart.
“That’s why they watched him.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to the copies?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Emily has them.”
Emily gasped.
“I do?”
Rachel almost laughed.
“Your sewing machine.”
Emily went quiet.
“My old Singer?”
“The bottom panel.”
It was absurd.
Four years of secrets hidden beneath an object Emily used every week.
Authorities recovered a flash drive.
More records.
More financial payments.
Enough to connect Margaret to Peter repeatedly.
But Peter remained missing.
At 6:13 that evening, I received an email.
From my own company account.
SUBJECT: YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT BURIED.
Attached was a photograph.
My Manhattan penthouse.
Taken from inside.
I called Marcus.
Security swept the property.
Empty.
Then we realized the photograph was old.
Peter was playing with us.
A second email arrived.
Nathan should have known better.
A third.
So should you.
Then a live video opened.
Peter appeared.
Gray hair.
Calm face.
Same expensive dark suit he wore to board meetings.
Behind him was a chair.
Someone was tied to it.
Arthur Vale.
Peter had taken him from the hospital.
“How?” I whispered.
Marcus swore.
Peter looked into the camera.
“Hello, Daniel.”
“Where are you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“What do you want?”
“The original files.”
“Police have them.”
“Copies.”
“You think I control federal evidence?”
“I think you control more than most people.”
Arthur groaned behind him.
Peter smiled.
“You have ninety minutes.”
“For what?”
“Bring Rachel’s copies to Pier 62.”
Marcus immediately signaled federal agents.
Peter continued.
“Come alone.”
“Not happening.”
“Then Arthur dies.”
I stared at Arthur.
I did not like him.
He had betrayed me.
Broken laws.
Helped conceal my daughter’s existence.
But I wasn’t going to knowingly send him to death.
Peter leaned closer.
“And Daniel?”
“What?”
“The real reason Nathan died wasn’t Sophie.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Nathan discovered Margaret had been stealing from Cole Capital.”
My breath caught.
“How much?”
“Two hundred and eighty million dollars.”
Impossible.
“From where?”
“Offshore investments. Fake vendors. Insurance structures.”
“You’re lying.”
Peter smiled.
“Nathan found it because he was planning to confess his affair. He wanted to give you everything.”
That explained why Margaret silenced him.
Not scandal.
Evidence.
“Where is the money?”
Peter laughed.
“You’re still thinking too small.”
He looked toward Arthur.
“The money is what Victoria has been protecting this whole time.”
My stomach dropped.
Victoria knew.
Of course she knew.
Peter said:
“You thought your wife kidnapped Sophie for Nathan’s inheritance?”
He smiled.
“No, Daniel.”
“Sophie is the key to the account.”
“What account?”
“The one containing everything Margaret stole from you.”
The screen went black.
Marcus stared at me.
“What key?”
I suddenly remembered something.
Victoria insisting the third baby’s original records disappear.
Margaret monitoring the child.
Arthur protecting Sophie.
Nathan’s trust.
Perhaps the money had been placed into an account only Nathan’s legal heir could access.
Sophie.
The child everyone tried to erase was worth far more than anyone realized.
Not because she inherited money.
Because her existence could expose where stolen money had been hidden.
May you like
And Peter Lang was no longer running from us.
He was hunting Sophie.
