Chapter 51
"I can." Nason paused. "But I have a request too."
"Go ahead."
"My father." His voice grew strained. "Frederick kicked my sister out back then, but he's always... all these years, he's been digging into what really happened. He's found some things, but his health won't let him come forward himself. If you find Benjamin, could you let him meet with my father? Just once?"
Evelyn was silent for a few seconds. "That depends on what Benjamin wants."
"I know." Nason nodded. "Just thought I'd ask."
They fell silent again for a few seconds.
Only the low hum of the air conditioning system filled the parking garage.
Evelyn pulled out her phone and sent Nason Cedric's contact info.
"If Benjamin reaches out to you again, tell him to verify this person first. Safer than going through me."
Nason glanced at the phone, pocketed it. "Got it."
He paused, then looked up. "Ms. Kendall, your mother back then... raising you on her own. That couldn't have been easy."
Evelyn's eyelids flickered.
She didn't say anything.
Nason turned and walked toward his car.
Three steps later, he stopped. Didn't turn around. His voice dropped low. "My sister was the best of us in the Hawk family."
He pulled open the car door and got in.
The engine started. The car drove up the ramp and disappeared around the corner at the garage exit.
Evelyn stood there for a few seconds, then walked toward the exit.
She organized the details of today's meeting in her head as she walked, then called Cedric.
The call connected. She gave him a brief summary of what Nason had said, finishing with, "Benjamin's actively reaching out to Nason, which means he's paying attention to how this unfolds. But he's not ready to show himself yet."
Cedric was silent on the other end for a few seconds. "We can track that London location. I'll have the tech team start tonight."
"Okay."
"One more thing." Cedric's tone paused for a beat. "Sebastian just officially posted an announcement in the industry group. Did you see it?"
"I did."
"What's your plan?"
Evelyn walked out of the parking garage and stood on the ground level. Sunlight hit her face. She squinted slightly. "Wait for the Eastside project client to make their move. If Ashford Group pressures them into silence, I won't do anything. If they're willing to reach out to me on their own, I'll keep talking."
"The client already contacted our business development team this afternoon." Cedric's voice was flat, like he was discussing something trivial. "They weren't pressured. They want a formal meeting with our project team next week."
Evelyn's finger pressed against the side of her phone. She didn't say anything.
"I had business development schedule it for Thursday." Cedric paused. "You'll lead the meeting."
"Got it."
The call ended. Evelyn stood there for two seconds, then headed toward the subway entrance.
Ashford Group. CEO's office.
Sebastian took the stack of documents his assistant handed him. Arianna's spending records from Moonlight Club over the past three months. Ashford Group's legal department had pulled them through internal channels.
Eleven transactions total. All amounts charged to the same membership account.
The name on the account was unfamiliar.
Sebastian had his assistant look into the name.
The assistant returned three hours later and placed a file on the desk.
"Mr. Ashford, found it. This membership account is tied to a business card registered under a real name. The cardholder's ID information shows his name is Blake McCoy. Forty-two years old. Works in private equity fund management."
Sebastian picked up the file and flipped to the first page.
Company registration information.
The company was called Ben Fund (Restructured). Registered three years ago.
Sebastian's gaze stopped on "Ben Fund" for three seconds.
He flipped further down.
The third page showed a company structure chart, marking major shareholders.
Blake's name appeared near the top of the chart. But above his name was another line marked in a different font: "Actual Controller (Anonymous)."
Sebastian's brow furrowed.
The assistant hadn't left. He continued. "Our people pulled surveillance footage from the club. Got a few screenshots. Quality isn't great."
He pushed a folder across the desk.
Sebastian pulled out the screenshots. Four total. Image quality mediocre. Angles all from fixed cameras in hallways or outside private rooms.
The first three showed Arianna entering and exiting the club's private rooms.
The fourth showed Arianna with her arm linked through a man's as they left a private room. A side profile shot.
The man's face was blocked by a pillar at the hallway corner. Only his neck and one hand were visible.
That hand rested on the back of Arianna's hand. The skin tone was distinctly adult male. Near the wrist, a white dress shirt cuff emerged from beneath his jacket. The cuff had a custom button—a square cufflink embedded with a dark gemstone. A small embossed insignia on it. The pattern was a stylized letter.
Sebastian's hand froze.
He brought the screenshot closer and zoomed in on the cufflink.
The letter was—W.
White family custom cufflinks. The Whites' monogram W had once been this family's exclusive marker at social events. Sebastian had seen them at banquets his father attended when he was younger. Relics from another era. After the White family fell from grace, hardly anyone used them anymore.
But someone still was.
Sebastian set the screenshot on the desk. Two fingers pressed down on the cufflink. Once. Then again.
The assistant stood nearby, waiting for him to speak.
Sebastian didn't look at him. His gaze landed on the darkness outside the window.
"Look into the White family. Check if there's been any activity in the country over the past decade connected to the Whites. Focus on Ben Fund's actual controller."
The assistant nodded. "Understood."
Sebastian lowered his voice. "When you find something, don't come report it. Send me an encrypted file directly."
The assistant nodded again, picked up the folder, and left the office. The door closed softly behind him.
Sebastian picked up the screenshot again. That letter pressed against a small dark gemstone, quiet and embedded in the white shirt cuff.
He quickly pulled together the threads in his mind—
Evelyn was looking into her father. And her father might be someone named Benjamin. That person had disappeared from the country fifteen years ago. His destination when he left was London.
Ben Fund had been the fund company under Benjamin's name back then. And that company had been re-registered domestically three years ago as a "restructured" version.
Blake was the cardholder, but there had to be an anonymous actual controller behind him. And Arianna had been frequenting Moonlight Club, charging expenses to this membership card, arm-in-arm with a man wearing White family cufflinks. The other end of this thread was also converging on one person...
Sebastian turned it over in his mind. He put the screenshot back in the folder and locked it in the drawer. Then he picked up his phone. Stared at the screen for three seconds before opening his contacts and finding a number. His finger hovered over the send button for a few seconds, then withdrew.
He turned off the phone screen. He couldn't let Evelyn know about this yet. If he told her now, she'd definitely ask where he'd found this information, why he was looking into it. Then he'd have to explain every piece of the logic. But he wasn't ready to face the answer to that question.
Darkness pressed down outside the window. Sebastian ran through the screenshot one last time in his mind. That letter, cold and still on the surface of the dark gemstone...
Someone had come back. Come back silently, hiding behind the scenes, pushing Arianna forward as a pawn first. And Evelyn was walking down a path that would lead her straight into a head-on collision with this person.