Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Alexander did not deny the signature.
That frightened Sophia more than denial would have.
Priya enlarged the authorization.
"Alexander?"
"It's mine."
Sophia backed away.
The gray coat suddenly felt like another trap wrapped around her shoulders.
"You knew about this account."
"No."
"Your signature is right there."
"I said the signature is mine. I didn't say I signed that transfer."
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
Alexander moved toward the monitor instead of toward her.
"Priya, pull the certificate."
She did.
His digital authorization certificate had been issued three years earlier.
Then revoked.
"Eight months ago," Priya said.
Alexander's eyes hardened.
"After Daniel."
Sophia caught the name.
"Who's Daniel?"
Alexander ignored the question for half a second too long.
"Someone who used to work for me."
"Someone?"
"My younger brother."
The answer shifted the room.
Alexander looked through the glass wall toward the city.
"Daniel was chief strategy officer at Kain Industries. Brilliant. Impulsive. He believed every problem could be fixed if you moved fast enough and cared enough."
"What happened?"
"Eighteen months ago, he became involved with Meridian."
Sophia stared.
"The company connected to my father?"
"Eventually connected."
Priya quietly closed several screens.
Alexander continued.
"Daniel discovered somebody was moving money through charitable organizations and acquisition vehicles. He thought he could trace it without involving me."
"Why?"
"Because we'd stopped trusting each other."
There was no self-pity in his voice.
That made it sadder.
"He accused me of caring more about controlling the company than protecting people. I accused him of risking thousands of employees because he wanted to play detective."
Sophia folded her arms.
"Was he right?"
"About some of it."
"What happened to him?"
Alexander finally looked at her.
"He went to federal investigators."
"And?"
"Nothing he brought them was enough. Three months later, he resigned from Kain Industries and left the country."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
Sophia didn't believe him.
Alexander saw it.
"I know the country he entered. I don't know where he is now."
"Why would somebody use your revoked signature?"
"To make any investigation point toward me."
Priya spoke.
"Or to make Alexander look like the destination when he's actually another victim."
Sophia laughed once without humor.
"Wonderful. Apparently identity theft is today's theme."
Her phone buzzed.
David again.
She finally answered.
Not because she trusted him.
Because she was tired of being spoken about instead of speaking.
"Sophia."
His voice broke on her name.
Behind him she could hear confusion, voices, doors.
"Where are you?"
"Safe."
"With Kaine?"
She said nothing.
David exhaled.
"Then listen carefully. Alexander Kaine is not helping you because he's kind."
Alexander could hear every word.
His expression didn't change.
Sophia said, "And you were marrying me because you loved me?"
Silence.
That silence hurt more than she expected.
Finally David said, "Yes."
"Did you know about the account?"
"No."
"My father did."
"I found that out after you ran."
"Your mother's address is attached to Meridian."
Another silence.
Different this time.
Shock.
"That's not possible."
"Apparently today is full of impossible things."
"Sophia, don't show Kaine anything else."
"Why?"
"Because my sister was investigating Meridian before she died."
Alexander's head snapped toward the phone.
Sophia stopped breathing for a second.
David's younger sister, Caroline, had died six years earlier in what everyone described as a boating accident.
The medical foundation had been created in her memory.
"What did Caroline know?"
"I don't know all of it."
"Then tell me what you do know."
David's voice dropped.
"She worked at Ashford Group for less than a year. She found irregular payments tied to a Kain Industries acquisition. She thought someone inside our company and someone inside Kaine's were cooperating."
Sophia looked at Alexander.
"Did you know Caroline?"
His expression answered before he did.
"Yes."
David heard him.
"You bastard."
Alexander stepped closer.
"Tell her the rest, David."
"Stay away from her."
"Tell her why Caroline came to me."
Sophia's eyes moved between the phone and Alexander.
"What is he talking about?"
David said nothing.
Alexander did.
"Caroline didn't trust her family."
David's voice exploded from the phone.
"You don't get to say that."
"She came to my office three weeks before she died."
Sophia's skin prickled.
"Why?"
"She had records. Incomplete ones. She believed someone was using philanthropic funds to finance corporate acquisitions and then replacing the money before audits."
"Did you help her?"
Alexander looked ashamed.
"No."
The word was quiet.
"I thought it was a tactic from her father. Another Ashford attempt to destabilize Kain. I sent her away."
Sophia suddenly understood the guilt behind his offer in the car.
I've had enough of that experience in my own life.
"You weren't talking about helping people generally."
"No."
"You were talking about Caroline."
"Yes."
David spoke again, quieter now.
"Three weeks later, my sister was dead."
Sophia closed her eyes.
Alexander didn't defend himself.
That mattered.
But it didn't absolve him.
"Why didn't you tell me in the car?"
"Because you had just escaped a wedding and climbed into the vehicle of a stranger. You needed somewhere safe, not my guilt."
Sophia ended the call.
She needed air.
Owen was waiting outside the conference room.
He held out a paper bag.
"Priya said you haven't eaten."
Sophia almost laughed.
"Is food how everyone around powerful men deals with disasters?"
"Mostly."
Inside was a turkey sandwich.
Ordinary.
For some reason, that nearly made her cry.
Then something slid from beneath the napkin.
A photograph.
Old.
Creased.
Sophia picked it up.
Four people stood outside a lakeside restaurant.
Alexander, younger.
Caroline Ashford.
Daniel Kaine.
And Marcus Reyes.
Sophia's father.
On the back, in Caroline's handwriting, were six words:
If anything happens, ask Marcus why.
Sophia turned toward Alexander.
His face had drained of color.
"I've never seen that photograph."
Owen looked equally confused.
"Neither have I."
Sophia stared at the paper bag.
"Then who put it in here?"
Priya took the photograph carefully.
"I bought the sandwiches myself downstairs."
"Was the bag unattended?"
"For maybe two minutes at reception."
Alexander looked toward the security desk.
But Sophia wasn't thinking about the photograph anymore.
She was thinking about the rosary David had found.
The picture showed Caroline's wrist.
Wrapped around it was a silver rosary.
Sophia moved closer.
"No."
"What?" Alexander asked.
She pointed.
"That rosary David says I dropped today."
Her voice trembled.
"It wasn't my grandmother's."
Alexander stared at the photograph.
Sophia finally understood why the cross in David's picture had looked slightly wrong.
Her grandmother's rosary had a smooth silver crucifix.
This one had a tiny blue stone at its center.
Exactly like Caroline's.
Sophia whispered, "David sent me his dead sister's rosary."
And Alexander said the question neither of them wanted answered.
May you like
"Why does he have it?"
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