Todos los capítulos de His Substitute Bride Became His Obsession: Capítulo 51 - Capítulo 60

Oliver called before we'd even reached Margaret's apartment, his voice carrying an urgency that made Damian pull the car over onto a quiet side street to take the call properly."I need you to hear this sitting down," Oliver said, and something in his tone made my stomach tighten immediately."We're listening," Damian said, putting the call on speaker between us."I pulled Vanessa's full employment history, going back further than we'd previously bothered checking," Oliver said. "Her first job out of college, before Sterling Consulting, before any of the positions we already knew about. She spent eighteen months as a junior analyst at Halloway Industrial Partners."Something cold moved through my chest at the familiar name, the same firm Marcus Reeves had been secretly feeding corporate espionage to during the Carlyle sting."That's not a coincidence," Damian said slowly."No," Oliver agreed. "But it gets worse. Halloway wasn't always the smaller player in this rivalry, Damian. Twelve

Samuel found him within two days, holed up in a modest office suite in Connecticut under a company name so generic it had clearly been chosen specifically to avoid attention, Sinclair Advisory Group tucked between a dental practice and a tax preparation service in a strip mall that felt deliberately beneath a man who'd once orchestrated the destruction of a family."He's still active," Samuel reported, spreading surveillance photos across the conference table. "Consulting work, mostly, though the client list is thin enough that I suspect it's mostly cover for something else. I've confirmed at least three wire transfers between his accounts and Vanessa's trust over the past eighteen months.""So they're still connected," Damian said, something cold and controlled back in his voice now, the fury from Richard's confession settled into something more calculating."Actively," Samuel confirmed. "Which suggests Sinclair isn't simply a relic from the past. He's still part of whatever Vanessa'

The laptop Oliver produced was standard issue, wiped clean and secure, and Vanessa's hands trembled slightly as she logged into an account none of her own lawyers seemed to know existed."A shadow email," she explained, not looking up from the screen. "Sinclair insisted I keep certain communications completely separate from anything traceable to my regular accounts. I thought it was simply caution. I understand now it was probably meant to keep me from having proof of anything, in case I ever tried to walk away."She pulled up a thread of messages, dozens of them stretching back months, and Oliver leaned in immediately, his expression sharpening as he began reading."This is substantial," he said slowly. "Sinclair's discussing specific timing here. References to a financial analyst report, something designed to trigger automatic sell-offs if released at the right moment.""A short position," Damian said, understanding dawning across his face with visible dread. "He's betting against B

Blackwood Global's conference room filled within the hour, urgency replacing the careful deliberation that had characterized every previous meeting about Sinclair's plan."He knows Vanessa flipped," Oliver said, spreading fresh documents across the table with none of his usual measured calm. "Which means he knows we're building a case against him. His only remaining advantage is speed. If he releases the fabricated documents tonight, before we've secured the emergency asset freeze, he still profits from the short position regardless of what happens to him legally afterward.""How does he release it?" Damian asked, already reaching for his phone to start coordinating."Financial media outlets, primarily," Oliver said. "A leaked document story, framed as an anonymous whistleblower providing evidence of fraud. It's designed to look credible enough that legitimate outlets pick it up before proper verification catches the fabrication.""Can we stop that from happening?" I asked."Not entir

Samuel worked through the night, cross-referencing employee records against the narrow window of time Isabella's settlement would have covered, the conference room slowly filling with printed personnel files as the hours dragged toward dawn."I'm narrowing by age first," Samuel explained, exhaustion evident in his voice despite the sharp focus in his eyes. "Anyone born within eighteen months of the settlement date, cross-referenced against recent hires, particularly anyone brought on within the past year who might have been positioned specifically for this moment.""How many people work at Blackwood Global total," I asked, watching the sheer volume of files accumulate."Several thousand, across all divisions," Damian said grimly. "Which is exactly why this could take considerable time, unless we narrow the search significantly.""Start with anyone connected to the gala planning committee," Oliver suggested. "If Sinclair's timeline centers on the event itself, whoever he's positioned w