Chapter 76 SEVENTY-SIX
Lennox didn't sleep that night. She came home from the gala, let Callum make love to her like he was trying to memorize every inch of her skin, and then lay awake staring at the ceiling while he slept.
Victor's words kept replaying. Soon. Very soon.
At six in the morning she gave up and texted Cole. We need to move faster.
His response came immediately. Already on it. Come to my place.
She left a note for Callum saying she was meeting a friend for breakfast. The guilt sat heavy in her chest but she pushed it down.
Cole's apartment looked like a war room when she arrived. Papers spread across every surface, three laptops running, a whiteboard covered in notes and timelines. He looked up when she walked in, dark circles under his eyes.
"Victor cornered me at the gala last night," she said. "Told me he's going to expose me soon."
Cole's jaw tightened. "How soon?"
"He didn't say exactly. Just soon."
"Then we work faster." He pulled up a file on his screen. "I've been going through the financial records all night. The embezzlement is worse than we thought. He's got shell companies in twelve different countries, all feeding back to offshore accounts."
She sat down next to him, started scanning the documents. The number kept climbing. Four billion now, maybe more.
"How did the auditors never catch this?"
"Because Victor approved the auditors. Made sure they only looked where he wanted them to look." Cole pulled up another spreadsheet. "I've been documenting every transfer, every shell company, building a complete timeline."
"What about Jake?"
"My guy narrowed it down. He's somewhere in Brooklyn, probably Williamsburg based on the last credit card transaction. But we need an exact address before we can approach him."
"How long?"
"Few more days." Cole rubbed his eyes, the motion tired. "I've also hired private investigators to track Victor's movements. See who he's meeting with, who else might be involved."
"You think there are others?"
"That email mentioned someone named R. Could be a partner, could be someone Victor's planning to sell the assets to." He pulled up another file. "I'm also securing backups of everything. Multiple copies stored in different locations. If Victor tries to destroy evidence, we'll still have proof."
Lennox opened her laptop, started cross-referencing the financial data with the emails they'd pulled from Victor's servers. Every transfer needed to connect to a specific document. No room for doubt.
They worked in silence for hours, only breaking for coffee. The scope of Victor's theft was staggering. He'd been stealing for years, building his plan piece by piece while pretending to be their father's trusted friend.
Around noon Cole's phone rang. He listened for a moment, then hung up.
"My investigator just sent photos. Victor had lunch with someone at Per Se, guy in his fifties, expensive suit."
"Could be R."
"Maybe." He pulled up the photos on his laptop. Victor and the man were laughing about something, completely at ease.
"I hate him," Lennox said quietly. "What he's done to your family, to Callum."
"Good. Use that." Cole's voice was hard. "We're going to destroy him. Everything he's built, every plan he's made."
They kept working. Lennox built a database of every financial transaction, tagged and categorized. Cole mapped out Victor's network of shell companies, tracking how money moved from Westbrook Industries through various accounts before disappearing offshore.
By evening they had something solid. Hundreds of pages of evidence, financial records, emails, bank transfers.
"This is good," Cole said, reviewing the compiled documents. "With Jake's testimony, Victor won't have anywhere to run."
"And without Jake?"
"It's still solid. But Jake makes it personal, proves Victor deliberately framed you."
Lennox's phone buzzed. A text from Callum. Where are you? You've been gone all day.
She checked the time. Seven PM.
Lost track of time. On my way home now.
Everything okay?
Yeah. Just catching up with friends.
"I should go," she said to Cole. "Callum's asking questions."
"How are things with you two?"
"Weird. We're good I think…. Like he can't keep his hands off me, but there's this distance, almost as if he knows something's wrong but he's choosing not to push."
Cole was quiet for a moment. "I think my brother loves you more than he's ever loved anyone. But finding out you're Cipher is going to devastate him. Whether love is enough to survive that, I honestly don't know."
She drove home trying not to think about it.
The penthouse was dark when she got there. She found Callum in his office, working on his laptop with a glass of whiskey beside him.
"Hey," she said from the doorway.
He looked up. "Hey yourself. Long day with friends?"
"Yeah. Sorry, I should have texted more."
"It's fine." But his voice was flat. "You hungry? I can order something."
"I'm okay. Already ate."
He nodded, turned back to his laptop. The distance between them felt physical.
"Callum?"
"Yeah?"
"Are we okay?"
He stopped typing, looked at her. "I don't know. Are we?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you've been disappearing a lot lately. Meeting friends, working on projects you won't tell me about. And every time I ask what's going on you deflect." He closed his laptop. "I told you I'd give you time but this is starting to feel like more than just needing time."
"It's not what you think."
"Then what is it? Because from where I'm sitting it feels like you're pulling away again." He stood, moved closer. "I love you. I've told you that. I've shown you that. But I can't keep doing this if you won't let me in."
"I'm not pulling away."
"Aren't you? You're gone all the time, you're secretive about where you go. You tell me you love me but you won't trust me with whatever you're dealing with." His voice cracked slightly. "What am I supposed to think?"
She wanted to tell him. Right then, with him looking at her like he was losing her. But without Jake's testimony, without the complete case, it would be her word against Victor's.
"I need a few more days," she said quietly. "I know that's asking a lot but I'm almost done with what I'm working on. Just a few more days and I'll tell you everything."
"Days? Not weeks?"
"Days. Less than a week, I promise."
He studied her face. "Fine. A few more days. But after that we're having this conversation whether you're ready or not."
"Okay."
He pulled her into his arms, held her tight. She could feel the tension in his body, the way he was holding on like he was afraid.
"I love you," he said against her hair. "Even when you're driving me crazy with secrets, I love you."
"I love you too."
They stood like that for a long time. It wasn't the easy closeness they'd had before. There was something fragile about it now, something that felt like it could break.
That night in bed, Callum made love to her like he was trying to prove something. His hands were almost desperate on her skin, his mouth claiming hers with an intensity that felt like fear. Afterward he held her close, his face buried in her neck.
"Don't leave me," he whispered. "Whatever you're dealing with, whatever you're hiding, don't leave me."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise me."
"I promise."
But she couldn't promise that he wouldn't leave her.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand at two in the morning. A text from Cole.
My investigator identified Victor's lunch companion. Richard Stone, CEO of a venture capital firm. Same firm that's been trying to acquire distressed tech assets. This is our R.
Her heart pounded. Victor had a buyer lined up, someone ready to purchase the company's assets when it liquidated.
She texted back. We need Jake.
Working on it. My guy thinks he can have an address soon.
Soon. That word again.
She stared at the ceiling, Callum's arm heavy across her waist, and counted down the days until her entire life either came together or fell apart.