Chapter 71 Chapter 71
Dominic POV
Five days. Five days since the board handed me out of seat. Five days of silence where there used to be power. Five days since I watched Liana walk into that boardroom like she owned the air.
And five days since I love everything I worked hard for and started sitting in my room day in and day out.
I hadn't slept more than two hours a night since. I'd lie back and close my eyes and see Liana, not in that dress she wore when she kissed me last, bar tossing my secrets packed in a box to Liana, it will then translate to Liana staring in that conference room, staring at me with eves glittering with mockery.
And in the background of her voice, echoing like a curse in my mind, was her cursed name.
This morning the sun tore my window blinds apart like a blade, and I woke up to the buzzing of my phone on the nightstand. I reached for it without opening my eyes. Ten missed calls. From Marc. He also sent one text message.
“I have an update for you. It's urgent.”
My heart missed a beat. Last night, I'd been on the brink of losing my mind. I had slept of thinking about how much of a powerful force Liana and Serena could be together and what they could have on me. If this Elia Torres story was real, and if what I'd been told by Serena about her disappearing was true, then they had something tangible in their list of weapons that they held against me. But if I could just debunk it, if I could dind a way to let everyone know it was smoke without fire or at least unproveable then I could reduce their power. I could take back some of the power they'd seized.
I rose, showered quickly, and dressed perfectly. Navy button-down. Dark trousers. Nothing wrinkled. I hated that I was dressing up like this to sit in my home office but even if I was no longer CEO, I refuse to look like I am tearing apart.
Mid way through my thought, my intercom beeped.
"Sir? There's a man here. Says he's Marc's assistant. He has a folder for you."
"Send him up."
A redhead in glasses stood before me less than a minute later, her heels clicking on the marble floor. She extended a slender folder.
"Mr. Marc said you'd want to see this immediately."
I opened it. The subject name was Elia Torres
The first line was a kick in the ribs: Flagged as a compliance risk.I continued to read on.
"Digital presence wiped from compay servers two days before acquisition close. Her work ID was shut off, and social media accounts were locked and wiped from corporaterelated devices." That was quite strange, I thought. "No bank activity on record for the past eight months. CCTV footage of last day of work corrupted. Emergency contact, a maternal aunt in Seville reported that she had received a final call from Elia, stating: 'I found something that could bring it all down.'"
My fingers grasped the edge of the folder more firmly.
"Thank you," I said,to him, my voice cold.
He nodded curtly and was gone. I sat, my thumb tracing the printed report. This wasn't story. This wasn't just drama, this was definitely a buried body laying somewhere I had handed the baton of authority over to Marc and his team to manage the Torrentech acquisition. I hadn't even examined the compliance reports. I was gone expanding in Europe, holding summits, making speeches. I was so focused on building that I did not notice something below was rotting.
And now? Now, it was coming to the surface. Maybe Serena did not destroy me. Maybe she just pointed out the hole I had dug for myself.
My phone was already in my hand by the time I'd finished thinking about it.
"Marc. My come to my place. Now."
“Yes sir.” He said without an argument.
Forty minutes later, when he arrived, he was in a blazer that didn't quite fit, hair slicked back too firmly, and eyes darting like a man looking for exit strategies.
"Dominic," he said with a tense smile. "You look good."
"Sit down," I said, not returning the smile. I slapped the folder down on the table between us. It rotated once, flawlessly.
Marc didn't reach for it. "Your assistant dropped this by."
"Yeah, right,” he said. “I thought you'd want some preliminary information."
I leaned in. "What did you do to Elia Torres?"
He blinked. "She… left? We reassigned her."
"Where?"
Marc paused. "Madrid. I think."
I raised an eyebrow. "You think?"
He laughed nervously. "Dominic, come on. She was a junior analyst. She started asking questions outside of protocol. Compliance flagged her, so we took care of it."
"By deleting her data?"
"Standard."
"And corrupting CCTV too?"
His lips parted. "That wasn't… I mean, that wasn't our call. Maybe security just missed a few hours."
I stood up. "Marc."
I watched him mirror my actions by instinct.
I walked around the table slowly, like a man hunting.
"She called her aunt and said she found something that would bring it all down. Two days later, she vanished."
"The company didn't make her vanish," he said quickly.
I stopped in front of him. "Did you make her vanish?"
He held up his hands. "No! I swear. I just… we just moved her out of the way. She was making waves. Bad for transition."
I leaned in, voice a whisper. "Moved her where?"
He gulped. "I don't know. Someone in Legal took it over. After she flagged some finance red flags."
I just stared at him. "Marc. You were handling that handover. Your stories are not adding up. You let this happen."
"I did what I had to," he snapped. Then he took a step back. "Sorry. I just… she was one analyst. We had bigger fires to fight."
"And now her case might burn the whole place down."
We stood there, staring at each other like two men in a slow war. Then I stepped back, walked to the windows and took a deep breath.
"Don't leave town for any reason Marc."
He turned. "What?"
"Don't make me repeat myself. Stay where I can find you. Because if I find out you're lying to me, and if any part of this mess comes back on me?"
I turned to face him full in the face. "I'll bury you myself."
He didn't say a word. Just nodded and took his leave.
I leaned, now alone in the room with fingers on the glass, and whispered one word "Elia."
And I dialed the number I had dialed too many time in the last few weeks. Someone deeper in.
"You have twenty-four hours to get me every single legal staff that came into contact with Torrentech a year ago. Start with Legal. Move up the chain. I need names, emails, exit reports, and flight records. Leave every other thing and face this."
"Got it."