Chapter 8 - Ryan’s Mistake
Ryan broke his own new rule.
He confronted Adrian.
Not physically.
Not even in person.
But he called.
“Where is Daniel Frost?”
Silence.
Then Adrian laughed softly.
“Rebecca found the Redmoor payment.”
Ryan immediately knew he had said too much.
“Answer me.”
“Daniel was a consultant.”
“For six million?”
“He threatened litigation.”
“So you paid him?”
“Settlement.”
“Without legal?”
“Special matter.”
Ryan’s anger rose.
“What happened to Claire?”
Adrian’s voice changed.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
“What is the right one?”
“Why did Claire trust strangers instead of you?”
Ryan flinched.
Adrian continued.
“She found Nora. Frost. Pilots. Attorneys.”
“Because she thought you controlled me.”
“She was right.”
The line went dead.
Ryan stared at the phone.
Rebecca walked in.
“Tell me you didn’t call him.”
Ryan said nothing.
She closed her eyes.
“What did you reveal?”
“Frost payment.”
“Damn it.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Her anger surprised him.
“Every time you feel powerless, you try to regain control by confronting the person who took it.”
Ryan stiffened.
“Claire said the same thing.”
“Then maybe listen to both of us.”
Within ninety minutes the Frost payment account disappeared behind a legal transfer order initiated earlier that morning.
Documents were moved into privilege review.
Adrian’s lawyers claimed attorney-client protection.
Ryan’s call had alerted him.
Worse followed.
Carter Air’s independent monitor discovered Ryan had accessed restricted corporate documents during his suspension using an old credential Maya supplied.
Ryan had not asked Maya to do it.
But he had looked when she offered.
It violated the temporary governance order.
The court reprimanded him.
His access was tightened further.
Adrian’s lawyers portrayed him as incapable of respecting controls.
The judge said:
“Mr. Carter, believing you are morally correct does not give you authority to ignore an order.”
Ryan felt humiliated.
Because the judge was right.
Another consequence.
Outside court Rebecca said nothing.
Ryan finally said:
“I’m sorry.”
“Good.”
“I made it worse.”
“Yes.”
“What now?”
“We stop doing Adrian’s work for him.”
At home, Emma could tell something happened.
“Did you get in trouble?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I broke a rule because I thought I had a good reason.”
“Was it a good reason?”
Ryan thought.
“I wanted to find your mom.”
Emma considered this.
“Still broke the rule.”
“Yes.”
She shrugged.
“Then don’t do it again.”
Simple.
Brutal.
Useful.
The financial investigation continued without Ryan touching it.
Bank subpoenas revealed the six-million-dollar Frost payment had not gone to Frost personally.
It went into his firm’s client trust account.
From there, most of it remained untouched.
Rebecca frowned.
“That doesn’t look like a bribe.”
“What does it look like?”
“A settlement escrow.”
They obtained the underlying engagement record through court process.
The payer listed was not Adrian.
It was Claire.
Ryan stared.
“Claire paid Frost?”
“Through money recovered from Redmoor.”
“How?”
“Nora helped her intercept a transfer.”
The six million was a preservation fund.
Claire had placed diverted Carter Air money into attorney trust so it could not be moved.
Adrian had been trying to recover it.
Daniel Frost had disappeared because he was protecting evidence.
Maybe not missing.
Maybe hiding.
Rebecca contacted federal prosecutors.
Hours later she returned.
“Frost is alive.”
Ryan stood.
“Where?”
“I’m not allowed to say.”
“Why?”
“He entered protective custody after receiving threats.”
“And Claire?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“He says he saw her four months ago.”
Ryan’s heart pounded.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“At his office.”
“What happened?”
“She gave him documents.”
“Then?”
“She left.”
“Where?”
“He doesn’t know.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
Always one step later.
Rebecca continued.
“Frost says Claire was planning to meet someone she believed could prove Adrian forged your signature.”
“Who?”
“A former Carter Air systems administrator.”
“Name?”
“Lena Cho.”
Ryan knew Lena.
She had supposedly died in a car accident three months ago.
His face changed.
Rebecca saw it.
“Ryan?”
He whispered:
“If Claire went to meet Lena four months ago, and Lena died three months ago…”
Rebecca finished:
“Then Claire may have been the last person to see her alive.”
That was exactly what Adrian’s lawyers wanted the police to believe.
By evening, news sites reported that missing executive Claire Bennett had been “linked to another woman’s suspicious death.”
Someone had leaked it.
May you like
Adrian was no longer merely hiding evidence.
He was turning Claire into the suspect.
