Chapter 17 - The Man Behind the Numbers
Thomas Reed did not answer his phone.
His office was empty.
His assistant said he had left town for a family emergency.
Helen contacted federal investigators because the financial transfers crossed state lines. Sarah authorized full access to company records.
By evening, the forensic team found what Mark had missed.
The theft had begun twelve years earlier.
Long before Vanessa.
Long before Lily.
Long before Sarah stepped away from the company.
Thomas had been creating small false invoices, then larger ones, using inactive vendors connected to dead projects. When Mark discovered irregularities, Thomas convinced him the company was already too compromised to survive public scrutiny.
Mark started his own illegal reserve.
Thomas used Mark's panic as camouflage.
"He made Mark look like the main thief," Daniel said.
Helen nodded. "Because Mark was stealing too. Just for a different reason."
Sarah felt no relief for her husband.
Wrong remained wrong, even if someone else was worse.
Then investigators found emails between Thomas and Claire.
He had paid her to monitor the family.
He had also encouraged Vanessa's relationship with Mark, feeding her documents about the 1998 accident.
He had built two revenge stories at once.
Vanessa thought she was punishing the Bennetts.
Mark thought he was protecting the company.
Claire thought she was finishing what her father started.
Thomas was using all of them.
Sarah stared at the web of messages.
"Where is he now?"
The answer came from a security alert.
Someone had entered Bennett Development headquarters using Thomas's badge.
It was 11:38 p.m.
The building should have been empty.
Sarah opened the camera feed.
Thomas appeared on the twenty-first floor carrying two gasoline cans.
Daniel swore.
"He's going to destroy the records."
Sarah grabbed her coat.
Helen caught her arm.
"Police are on the way. You are not going inside."
Sarah looked at the screen.
Thomas set one can down beside the archive room.
Then the elevator doors opened behind him.
A small figure stepped out.
Pearl-white coat.
May you like
Light-brown curls.
Lily.
