บททั้งหมดของ My Husband’s Secret Empire : บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

They started where every previous thread had started with the ledger, spread once more across the desk in the east wing, this time with fresh eyes and a year's worth of hard-won context neither of them had possessed the first time through. "If Julian's telling the truth," Nathaniel said, tracing a finger down the earliest entries, "then somewhere in here there's a payment that doesn't fully make sense. Something that funded Elliot Voss before he had the capital to fund himself." "Start-up money," Wren said slowly, old instincts sharpening as she leaned over the desk beside him. "Every shell company needs an initial injection before it can start laundering anything meaningful. Where did Elliot get his?"They found it three hours later, buried in a section of the ledger neither of them had examined closely before — an entry predating everything else by nearly two years, routed through an entity neither Elliot's name nor any of the Cross family's history had ever been directly attached

"A different country," Nathaniel repeated slowly, on the drive back from the correctional facility, the weight of Regina's revelation settling heavier with every mile. "That could mean anywhere. Regina had thirty years to help her sister disappear completely." "Not completely," Wren said, already pulling out her laptop, old instinct sharpening into focus despite the exhaustion of the day. "People who disappear still need to eat, still need somewhere to live, still leave some kind of trace if you know how to look for it and Regina's sister had thirty years of quiet financial support from somewhere, if she's been living comfortably enough to stay hidden this long." "You think Regina's been sending her money." "I think a woman who spent two decades atoning for one sister's death might have spent just as long quietly protecting the sister she had left, whatever that sister was involved in." Wren's fingers moved quickly across the keyboard, cross-referencing financial disclosures from

Vienna felt like a different world entirely — cobblestone streets and centuries-old architecture that made the glass towers of home feel almost crude by comparison, every corner steeped in an old-world elegance that Wren imagined would have been beautiful under any other circumstances. "The auction house has a strict guest list," Imogen said, spreading a set of documents across the hotel suite's table, her tone all business despite the tension of the past three weeks of preparation. "Vivian's contact got us an invitation, but it's under scrutiny. We can't simply walk in as ourselves — Cassius Vale would recognize the Cross name instantly, and recognize exactly what it means that you're both there." "Cover identities, then," Nathaniel said. "Same as Julian's building." "More careful, this time." Imogen's expression tightened. "Vale's survived forty years precisely because he never underestimates anyone. We need identities with actual history behind them — verifiable, if someone deci

Vale led them through a discreet side door, away from the main hall's warm glow and murmured conversation, into a narrow corridor lined with private viewing rooms reserved for the auction house's most valued clients. "Wren." Nathaniel's voice came low, barely a breath, his hand tightening briefly around hers as they walked. "Whatever happens in there, follow my lead." "I have a lead of my own," she murmured back, old instinct steady despite the fear coiled tight beneath her composure. "We came here for information. We're going to get it."Vale opened the final door himself, gesturing them into a small, elegant room lined with private collections …no windows, Wren noted immediately, only a single door back the way they'd come, and the particular stillness of a room built for conversations no one else was meant to overhear. "I'll admit," Vale said, settling into a chair with the same unhurried composure he'd maintained throughout their entire encounter, "I'm impressed. Vivian's spent

"Whatever I agree to tonight has to guarantee her safety completely," Nathaniel said, voice hard despite the desperation still visible underneath. "Not just tonight, Permanently. If I so much as suspect you've gone back on this—" "You'll do what, exactly?" Vale's smile was thin. "Chase me across another continent, the way you've chased every other name in this network? I'm afraid you'll find I'm considerably more careful than Elliot or Julian ever managed to be."Wren stood silent beside Nathaniel, mind racing, old instinct screaming that something about this entire negotiation felt wrong in a way she couldn't yet fully articulate. Vale wanted them to believe he was cornered, desperate enough to trade everything for simple disappearance. But men who survived forty years at the center of exactly this kind of operation didn't panic easily, didn't offer surrender this readily, not without an angle Wren was still missing. "I want to speak to Delia," she said suddenly. "Directly, before