Chapter 68 SIXTY-EIGHT
Lennox texted Cole the next morning before she could lose her nerve.
Can we meet for coffee? Need to talk to you about something. Just us.
His response came five minutes later. Sure. When?
Today if possible.
2pm work? There's a place in SoHo, I'll send the address.
She spent the hours before the meeting trying not to throw up. This was it. Once she told Cole about the embezzlement, about Victor, there was no taking it back. He could help or he could go straight to Callum or he could think she was crazy and ignore her completely.
But she was out of options. Victor had made that clear at dinner, and Callum's talk about their future had driven home just how much she had to lose.
The coffee shop was small and crowded, the kind of place where people minded their own business. Cole was already there when she arrived, sitting in a corner booth with two cups in front of him.
"Got you a latte. Hope that's okay."
"Thanks." She slid into the booth across from him, wrapping her hands around the cup even though she had no intention of drinking it.
"So what's this about? You sounded urgent."
No point in easing into it. "I need your help with something and I need you to not tell Callum yet."
His expression sharpened. "That's a hell of an opening. What kind of help?"
"The kind that involves your family's company and someone stealing from it."
Cole set his cup down slowly. "I'm listening."
She took a breath, committed. "I've found evidence of embezzlement. Massive fraud happening over years. Money being funneled out through shell companies and offshore accounts." She met his eyes. "I think Victor is behind it."
"Victor." He said it flatly, like he was testing how the accusation sounded out loud. "Victor Harding. The guy who's been with the company since before I was born."
"I know how it sounds."
"Do you? Because it sounds insane." But he didn't get up and leave. "What kind of evidence are we talking about?"
"Financial records. Patterns in the company's expenses that don't make sense unless someone's actively stealing. Shell companies that trace back to offshore accounts. Years of systematic theft that adds up to billions."
"Billions." He laughed without humor. "And you just stumbled across this how exactly?"
"I didn't stumble. I've been looking."
"Why? Why would you be looking into Westbrook Industries finances at all?"
This was the dangerous part. She needed to give him enough truth to be believable without revealing she was Cipher. "I'm good with data. Numbers, patterns, financial analysis. It's what I did before everything went wrong at Morrison and Chen." Not exactly a lie. "After I married Callum, I started noticing things in the company reports he'd leave around. Irregularities that bothered me. So I looked deeper."
"You hacked into company systems."
"I accessed publicly available information and connected dots that should've been connected years ago." Also not exactly a lie.
Cole was quiet for a long moment, studying her face like he was trying to read what she wasn't saying. "Why can't you tell Callum? If you have evidence of fraud this serious, he needs to know."
"Because Victor's been manipulating him for months. Questioning me, making him doubt my background, planting seeds about my motives." She leaned forward. "If I go to Callum now without ironclad proof, Victor will spin it. He'll make it look like I'm trying to frame him, like I'm the threat to the company. And Callum will believe him because Victor was his father's closest friend."
"You think Callum would choose Victor over you?"
"I think Callum loves his father's legacy more than anything. And if Victor positions this as me attacking that legacy, attacking someone his father trusted completely, I don't know which way he'd go."
Cole absorbed that, his jaw tight. "So what do you want from me?"
"Help. Resources. Someone Victor can't dismiss as easily as he can dismiss me." She paused. "And time. We need to build an airtight case before we bring this to Callum or anyone else."
"How did you find this evidence?" he asked again, more pointed this time. "Be specific."
"I'm good with computers. Better than most people realize. I know how to track money, how to see patterns in financial data that other people miss."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the answer you're getting right now." She held his gaze. "Look, I know I'm asking you to trust me on incomplete information. I know it sounds crazy that Victor would steal from a company he helped build. But I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sure. I wouldn't risk telling you at all if I had any other choice."
"Show me."
"What?"
"The evidence. Show me what you have. I'm not agreeing to anything until I see it myself."
Relief flooded through her. He wasn't dismissing her outright, wasn't running to Callum. "When?"
"Now. My office is twenty minutes from here. We can go through everything and I'll decide if this is real or if you're seeing patterns that don't exist."
"Okay." She stood, leaving her untouched latte on the table. "But we need to be careful. If Victor suspects we're looking into him..."
"Then we don't give him a reason to suspect." Cole grabbed his jacket. "I'm good at being discreet when I need to be."
They didn't talk much on the walk to his office. Cole's building was smaller than Callum's, less ostentatious, tucked into a neighborhood that mixed residential and commercial. His office itself was surprisingly cluttered, papers stacked on every surface, a whiteboard covered in notes and diagrams.
"Sorry about the mess. I do my best thinking when things look chaotic." He cleared space on his desk. "Show me."
Lennox pulled out her laptop, opened the encrypted files she'd brought. Started walking him through the shell companies, the patterns of theft, the offshore accounts that didn't make sense unless someone was actively hiding money.
Cole didn't interrupt. Just watched the screen, his expression getting darker as she clicked through page after page of evidence.
"This is over five years," he said finally.
"At least. Could be longer but that's as far back as I could trace definitively."
"And you're sure it's Victor?"
"The circumstantial evidence all points to him. The timing, the accounts, the way the shell companies are structured. But I don't have direct proof yet. Nothing that explicitly puts his name on these transactions."
"So we need more."
"Yes."
Cole sat back, ran his hands through his hair. "Holy shit. If this is real, if he's actually been stealing billions..."
"It's real. I wouldn't be here otherwise."
"Callum's going to lose his mind when he finds out. Victor was like an uncle to us growing up. Our dad trusted him completely."
"I know. That's why we need to be absolutely certain before we say anything. One hundred percent ironclad certain."
"And you're sure we shouldn't tell him now? Start an official investigation?"
"Victor has too much influence on the board. If we tip our hand before we have everything we need, he'll destroy evidence and disappear. Or worse, he'll turn it around and make me look like the criminal."
Cole studied her again with that assessing look. "There's something you're not telling me. I can see it. But I'm going to trust you anyway because if even half of what you're showing me is accurate, we can't let this slide."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. We need to figure out how to get the rest of the proof without Victor catching on." He looked at the laptop screen again. "You said some of the files are encrypted?"
"The most damaging ones, yes. I've tried everything I know but I can't crack them."
"I might know someone who can. A security consultant I worked with on a project last year. Brilliant with encryption, completely discreet." He paused. "But we'd need to bring them in carefully. Can't risk word getting back to Victor."
"Agreed."
They spent the next hour going through the evidence again, Cole asking questions and Lennox answering as honestly as she could without revealing she was Cipher. He was sharp, caught inconsistencies and pressed on them, but he seemed to believe her. Or at least believe the documents in front of him.
"Okay," he said finally. "Here's what we do. I'll contact the encryption specialist, see if they can crack those files. You keep digging but carefully. Don't access anything that might trigger alerts. And neither of us says a word to Callum until we have everything."
"You're really going to help me."
"I'm going to help protect my family's company. And my brother." He met her eyes. "But Lennox, if I find out you're lying to me about any of this, if this is some kind of scheme to hurt Callum or the company, I will destroy you. Family or not."
"I understand."
"Good." He closed her laptop, handed it back. "I'll be in touch about the encryption specialist. In the meantime, act normal. Don't give Victor any reason to think we're onto him."
She left his office feeling lighter than she had in weeks. She wasn't alone anymore. Cole was helping, actually helping, and maybe together they could expose Victor before he exposed her.
Her phone buzzed as she walked down the street. A text from Callum.
Dinner tonight? Want to take you somewhere nice.
She texted back a heart emoji, allowed herself a small moment of hope.
She had an ally now. Someone who could help her get the proof she needed before Victor made his next move.
For the first time in months, she felt like maybe, just maybe, she had a chance at winning this.