Chapter 9 – Hidden Agendas

Aurora's Pov

Working with Lawrence changed everything. Suddenly, I had access to resources I couldn't have gotten on my own and people who could dig into places I couldn't reach. But I still had to be careful because one wrong move would alert Damien and Seraphina that something was happening.

I started going to the office more often. In my past life, I'd avoided it because I found board meetings boring, and I trusted Father to handle everything. Now, I realized how stupid that was because while I was staying home playing the perfect daughter, Seraphina had been positioning herself as the responsible one.

The board members barely knew me.

I needed to change that without making it obvious.

"Aurora, darling, you're here early." Seraphina walked into the conference room with her tablet and coffee, looking surprised to see me already sitting at the table.

"I thought I should start learning more about the company. Father keeps saying I need to take it seriously." I smiled at her like we were still best friends. "I hope you don't mind me sitting in on the meeting."

"Of course not. I'm glad you're finally taking an interest." She sat down next to me and lowered her voice. "Just so you know, some of the board members can be difficult. If they ask you questions you're not sure about, just let me handle it, okay?"

Translation: sit there and look pretty while I do all the talking.

"Thanks, Sera. You're always looking out for me."

The board members started filing in, and I watched how they interacted with Seraphina. They greeted her warmly and asked her opinion on things and treated her like she was already running the company. When they looked at me, it was with polite smiles that didn't reach their eyes.

They thought I was useless.

The meeting started, and I sat quietly, listening as they discussed quarterly reports and upcoming projects. Seraphina spoke confidently about numbers and projections, and the board members nodded along with everything she said.

But I was watching more than listening. I noticed how she steered conversations away from certain topics and how she downplayed issues that should have been red flags. She was good at making problems sound smaller than they were.

About halfway through the meeting, one of the board members brought up an international investment that wasn't performing well.

"We've lost almost two million on the Jakarta project in the last quarter. I think we should consider pulling out before we lose more."

Seraphina shook her head. "That's just temporary. The market is recovering, and we'll see returns by next quarter, pulling out now would be premature."

I spoke up for the first time. "Can I see the detailed report on that investment?"

Everyone turned to look at me like they'd forgotten I was there.

"It's pretty technical, Aurora. I can explain it to you after the meeting." Seraphina's smile was tight.

"I'd like to see it now, please."

There was an awkward silence. Then, one of the board members pulled it up on the screen. I pretended to study it carefully even though I already knew what I was looking for.

"The initial investment was five million, right? But we've only received one million back, and now we're down two million. That's a net loss of six million total."

"The project takes time to mature." Seraphina was still smiling, but her eyes had gone cold.

"It's been three years and according to this report, the local partner has been missing benchmarks consistently. Why are we still funding them?"

The board members exchanged glances. One of them cleared his throat. "That's actually a good question. Seraphina, what's the justification for continuing?"

"Like I said, the market is recovering. These things take patience."

I pulled up something on my own tablet. Lawrence had given me access to research his people had done on all of the company's investments, and I'd spent last night memorizing the important ones.

"The Jakarta market actually declined another fifteen percent last month and the local partner just filed for bankruptcy protection. That information is public record as of yesterday."

The room went completely silent.

Seraphina's face was still calm, but I saw her jaw tighten. "Where did you get that information?"

"I've been doing some research. I thought if I was going to start attending meetings, I should actually know what we're talking about." I looked at the board members. "It seems like we should cut our losses before we lose everything."

"I agree." One of the older board members nodded. "I'll make a motion to pull out of the Jakarta project immediately."

The vote passed unanimously. Seraphina didn't argue, but I could feel her anger radiating across the table.

After the meeting, she followed me out to the hallway.

"Where did you really get that information, Aurora?"

"I told you. I've been researching."

"You've never cared about business before. Why the sudden interest?"

"Maybe I'm finally growing up. Father is getting older, and someone needs to be ready to take over when he retires." I kept my voice light. "You've been working so hard, Sera. I thought I should help."

"I don't need help. I have everything under control." She said.

"I'm sure you do, but we're family, right? We should work together."

She stared at me for a long moment like she was trying to figure out if I was a threat. Finally, she smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Of course. We're sisters, we're always on the same team."

"Exactly." I gave her a hug even though it made my skin crawl. "I'll see you at dinner."

I walked away before she could say anything else. My hands were shaking, and my heart was pounding, but I'd done it. I'd established myself as someone who couldn't be ignored, and I'd caught Seraphina in a bad investment that made her look incompetent.

But more importantly, I now had a lead to follow.

I went back to my office and pulled up everything I could find on the Jakarta project. The local partner was a shell company registered in Singapore and the money we'd been sending had been going into accounts that were impossible to trace.

But Lawrence had better resources than me.

I called him from my secure phone.

"I need you to look into something. The Jakarta investment that Stanley Corporation has been funding for three years. It's a front for something, and I think Seraphina is using it to siphon money."

"Send me the details. I'll have my people on it within the hour."

"Thanks, and Lawrence? I just made a move in the board meeting. Seraphina knows something is different."

"Good. Keep the pressure on, but don't push too hard yet. We need more evidence before we can really hurt her." He said.

"I know." I answered.

I hung up and spent the rest of the afternoon going through files. If the Jakarta project was dirty, then there had to be others. Seraphina had been working at the company for five years, and she'd been careful but not perfect.

That's when I found it.

Buried in an old folder marked miscellaneous expenses, there was a contract for consulting services. The company providing the services was based in the Cayman Islands, and they'd been paid almost ten million over three years for work that was never clearly defined.

The signature at the bottom made my blood run cold.

It was the same coded signature I'd seen on documents in my past life. Documents that Damien had used to transfer my inheritance into his accounts after I died. A symbol that looked like two snakes twisted together with a crown on top.

Seraphina had been using this signature for years. Which meant she'd been planning this since before I even met Damien. She'd been systematically stealing from the company and setting up infrastructure to take everything once Father was gone.

And I'd been too blind to see it.

I took pictures of everything and sent them to Lawrence. Then, I started cross-referencing other contracts to see how many more had the same signature.

There were dozens.

Seraphina had her hands in every part of the company. She'd positioned herself so carefully that removing her would look suspicious and she'd done it all while pretending to be my loving sister.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to march to her room right now and tell her I knew everything but I couldn't because I still didn't have enough proof and I still didn't know who else was involved.

I needed to be smarter than my anger.

I was packing up to leave when my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.

"Check your office mailbox."

I frowned. The office mailboxes were downstairs in the main lobby. I grabbed my bag and headed down, trying to look casual even though my nerves were screaming.

The mailbox had a small package inside with no return address. I took it back upstairs to my office and locked the door before opening it.

Inside was a flash drive and a note.

"The Truth About Your Father."

My hands started shaking so badly I almost dropped it. Who sent this? And how did they know I was looking into Father's death?

I plugged the flash drive into my computer, but I was

too scared to open it right away. What if it was a virus? What if this was a trap?

But I had to know.

I clicked on the drive and held my breath.