Chapter 10 - THE HARLOW SECRET
Damian felt something shift beneath his feet.
“What are you talking about?”
Anna’s memories came faster now.
“I found transfers.”
“What transfers?”
“Money moved through shell companies.”
“That could be a hundred things.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I remember being scared.”
Marcus opened the photographed documents.
Shipping manifests.
Account codes.
Foreign subsidiaries.
Damian scanned them.
His stomach dropped.
“I’ve never seen these.”
Anna looked at him.
“I believed you were hiding them.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Then who was?”
Marcus zoomed in on the authorization signature.
Victoria Harlow.
Damian stared.
“No.”
Anna whispered, “Your mother.”
Damian called the mansion.
No answer.
He called Victoria directly.
Voicemail.
Then security radioed Marcus.
Victoria had left the estate thirty minutes earlier.
Celeste was also gone.
Damian exploded.
“How?”
“A guard opened the east gate.”
“Which guard?”
“No one can find him.”
Damian punched the wall.
Anna grabbed his arm.
“Stop.”
“My own security—”
“Getting angry won’t find them.”
He looked at her.
That was Eliza.
The same voice.
The same steady eyes she had used when Damian’s temper was about to make a bad situation worse.
He took a breath.
“You used to say that.”
“I’m starting to remember saying a lot of things.”
He stared at her.
She looked away.
Marcus cleared his throat.
“We should involve federal authorities.”
“Do it.”
Within hours, the Harlow empire started cracking open.
Investigators discovered that Victoria had used subsidiaries to hide illegal payments to overseas contractors.
Not drugs.
Not weapons.
Bribes.
Kickbacks.
Corporate espionage.
Enough to destroy Harlow Global.
Enough to send people to prison.
Eliza had found the records accidentally while helping Damian prepare for an audit.
She had believed Damian was involved.
That explained their tension during the weeks before the crash.
But Celeste had discovered Eliza’s investigation.
And Celeste had her own reason to panic.
She had been receiving money from Victoria for years.
Anna sat silently as the pieces came together.
“Celeste worked for your mother.”
Damian rubbed his face.
“She introduced us.”
Anna stared at him.
“What?”
“Celeste and I met at a charity event. My mother arranged the seating.”
Anna laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“So your mother put her near you.”
“I didn’t know.”
“And then Celeste tried to get into your bed.”
Damian didn’t answer.
“That part you did know.”
His silence said enough.
Anna stood.
“I need air.”
“Eliza—”
“Don’t.”
She turned.
“You want me to remember being your wife?”
“I want you to remember the truth.”
“Then here’s some truth.”
Her eyes filled.
“You didn’t push my car off that mountain. But you made it very easy for another woman to believe there was a place waiting for her when I was gone.”
Damian went still.
She walked out.
Marcus looked at him.
Damian stared at the floor.
“Don’t say it.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Yes.”
An hour later, police found Victoria’s abandoned car near a private airfield.
Inside was blood.
And a note.
Damian unfolded it.
May you like
Three words.
BRING THE DRIVE.
