Chapter 3 - The Woman Victor Needed
At 6:03 a.m., Graham Reed officially remained the controlling shareholder of Reed Global Infrastructure.
I officially remained his wife.
And Victor Reed officially stopped pretending this was a family disagreement.
Graham’s phone rang at 6:04.
His general counsel, Naomi Price.
“Congratulations,” she said without enthusiasm.
“Thank you.”
“The trust administrator confirmed your marital status. Your voting shares remain vested.”
“Victor?”
“Filed an emergency board challenge at 5:59.”
Graham looked at me.
“On what grounds?”
“Fraudulent marriage. Coercion. Corporate misconduct.”
I nearly choked.
“Coercion?”
Naomi heard me.
“Mrs. Reed?”
I grimaced.
“Please don’t call me that yet.”
“Unfortunately, half the financial press already is.”
“What?”
Naomi continued.
“Someone leaked photographs from the chapel.”
Victor.
Of course.
Graham said, “When’s the board meeting?”
“Ten this morning.”
“In Vegas?”
“Video conference.”
“Good.”
Naomi hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Victor claims Avery Bennett stole proprietary corporate information.”
I stepped closer.
“He planted the drive on me.”
“That’s my assumption,” Naomi said. “But if he convinces the board Avery stole it, he can argue Graham married her to obstruct an internal investigation.”
Graham’s expression hardened.
“Can he win?”
“If we don’t know what’s on that drive? Yes.”
Silence.
Then Naomi asked the obvious question.
“Where is it?”
Graham looked at me.
I looked at my handbag.
And suddenly remembered.
“Wait.”
I grabbed it.
Lipstick.
Wallet.
Hotel key.
Receipts.
Nothing.
Then I touched the lining.
There was a tiny tear along the inside seam.
I pushed two fingers through.
Something hard.
I pulled out the black flash drive.
Graham stared at me.
“You hid it inside your purse?”
“Apparently drunk Avery is smarter than morning Avery.”
“You weren’t drunk.”
“Then I’m just smarter than morning me.”
For the first time, Graham actually smiled.
It vanished quickly.
“We need to decrypt it.”
Naomi said, “Not on any Reed Global device.”
“I know someone,” I said.
Graham looked at me.
“Who?”
“Daniel Cho.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Our cybersecurity director?”
“My cybersecurity director.”
“He reports to me.”
“Everyone reports to you. That doesn’t mean they like you.”
Forty minutes later, Daniel arrived through a private service elevator.
He looked at Graham.
Then me.
Then our rings.
“No.”
I held up a hand.
“Don’t.”
“I leave you two alone at one corporate dinner—”
“Daniel.”
“Fine.”
He examined the drive.
“This is hardware encrypted.”
“Can you open it?”
“Eventually.”
“We have three hours.”
“Then I suddenly hate both of you.”
Daniel connected the drive to an isolated laptop.
Minutes passed.
Then twenty.
Then forty.
At 8:17, the first folder opened.
Daniel stopped joking.
“What?”
He turned the laptop.
Hundreds of transactions.
Construction subsidiaries.
Consulting companies.
Pension accounts.
Government contracts.
Graham leaned closer.
“This is internal.”
Daniel opened another folder.
Emails.
Victor’s name appeared repeatedly.
So did the names of two board members.
And a senator.
I whispered, “He’s been moving money.”
“Not just money,” Graham said.
Daniel opened a spreadsheet.
Employee pension funds had been redirected into shell companies, then used to cover losses from failed overseas projects.
Hundreds of millions.
“If this becomes public…” I began.
“Reed Global collapses,” Graham finished.
Then Daniel opened the final folder.
My name appeared.
BENNETT, AVERY — CONTINGENCY ASSET
I stopped breathing.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel clicked.
There were photographs.
My apartment.
My mother’s business.
My car.
My office.
Months of surveillance.
Then a memo.
Graham read it silently.
His face went pale.
I snatched the laptop.
The document described a plan.
If regulators discovered the missing pension money, selected financial records would be altered to make it appear that I had authorized transfers.
I was the scapegoat.
“That’s why he planted the drive,” I said.
Graham nodded.
“He wanted it discovered in your possession.”
“And marrying you ruined the plan.”
“Yes. Spousal privilege complicates certain testimony. More importantly, you became publicly connected to me before he could frame you.”
Daniel looked between us.
“So this ridiculous marriage actually saved her?”
“For now,” Graham said.
My phone rang.
Mom.
I answered immediately.
“Mom?”
“Avery?”
Her voice shook.
My stomach dropped.
“What happened?”
“A man came to the office.”
Graham was already moving.
“What man?”
“He said he was from Reed Global.”
“What did he want?”
“He left an envelope.”
“Don’t touch it.”
“I already opened it.”
Inside was a photograph.
Mom sent it.
Graham looked at my screen.
The picture showed my mother walking toward her car yesterday.
Written across the bottom:
THE DAUGHTER PAYS FOR THE MOTHER’S MISTAKES.
Graham took his phone.
“I’m sending security to her.”
I grabbed his arm.
“No Reed Global security.”
He understood immediately.
We couldn’t know who Victor owned.
Daniel closed the laptop.
“I have a former FBI contact in Chicago.”
“Call them,” Graham said.
Then the hotel room phone rang.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Graham answered.
“Hello?”
His expression went blank.
He listened.
Then slowly looked at me.
“What?”
He hung up.
“That was the front desk.”
“And?”
“Victor Reed is downstairs.”
My pulse accelerated.
“What does he want?”
Graham’s eyes turned cold.
May you like
“He says he wants to meet his new niece.”
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