Alle Kapitel von THE BILLIONAIRE'S APPRENTICE BRIDE: Kapitel 41 – Kapitel 50

We got there before the fire trucks had even finished packing up, red and blue lights washing across a building with smoke still curling from a third-floor window.I spotted Sophia wrapped in a paramedic's blanket at the edge of the scene, coughing but upright, alive, and something in my chest that had been clenched tight since Marcus's call finally loosened enough to let me breathe."She's here," I said, already moving toward her. "She's okay."Sophia looked up as I reached her, eyes red-rimmed from smoke, hands shaking around a cup of water someone had pressed into them."I smelled something wrong before the alarm went off," she said, voice rough. "Gasoline, I think. I've never smelled it that strong inside an apartment before. I grabbed what I could and got out. I didn't even think, I just ran.""Thank God you did," I said, sitting beside her on the curb, close enough that our shoulders touched."The fire marshal already flagged it," a paramedic said, overhearing. "Point of origin

Threshold Security occupied a small suite on the second floor of an unremarkable office building, the kind of place nobody would look twice at, exactly the sort of anonymity a man like Ellis would have chosen on purpose. A single security light buzzed over the entrance, and the whole building had the particular hush of a place that emptied out promptly at five every day and never looked back.Marcus got us through the door in under a minute, quiet and efficient, no alarm tripped, no evidence we'd ever been there once we finished. Ellis's own office sat at the back, small, sparse, nothing personal on the walls except a single framed photograph of a man I recognized from Marcus's earlier records search.His father. Thomas Marsh, younger, in a fire investigator's uniform, smiling at a camera decades before any of this began."Second drawer," Damian said, already moving toward the desk.It was locked, but Marcus made quick work of it, and inside sat a small external hard drive, a stack of

Beth's lawyer turned out to be exactly as trustworthy as she'd promised, a sharp, no-nonsense woman named Patricia Ford who reviewed Ellis's evidence for three straight hours without saying much beyond the occasional low whistle of disbelief. By the time she finally looked up, the sun had shifted across the kitchen table twice."This is more than enough for a formal investigation," she said finally, closing the last folder. "Bribery, obstruction, wire fraud through the shell company structure, and now potentially a second wrongful death nobody's ever accounted for. I'd recommend bringing in the district attorney's office within the week.""Not yet," Damian said. "We have one more piece we need first."Patricia raised an eyebrow. "You have enough to end this today, Mr. Cole. What exactly are you waiting for?""Rourke's going to be at the Ashcombe Industry Gala in three weeks. First public appearance he's made in years." Damian's jaw was set, the same resolve I'd seen at the rail yards

"I don't like this," Damian said, for the fourth time in twenty minutes, pacing the length of the kitchen while Marcus worked through the logistics on his laptop."You've said that already.""I intend to keep saying it until you actually agree with me instead of just tolerating the sentiment." He stopped in front of me, hands finding my shoulders, his eyes searching mine for something I wasn't sure either of us could name. "She threatened us. Financially, publicly, and we still don't know if she's dangerous in other ways too.""Which is exactly why it needs to be me," I said. "She trusted Sophia's warning enough to reach out to us at all. Maybe she'll trust another woman who's survived being discarded by this family more than she'd trust a security team or a lawyer.""I can have Marcus a block away. Close enough to move fast if something goes wrong.""Agreed. Close, but not visible. If she sees anyone but me, we lose whatever chance we have of getting the truth instead of a rehearsed

Marcus had the audio pulled up on three separate screens by the time we got back to the penthouse, waveforms layered over each other, comparing pitch and cadence with the kind of patience I'd never have managed myself."The voice from Lena's calls matches a partial clip we caught at the depot months ago," he said. "Background conversation, barely audible, we never had a reason to isolate it until tonight. But it's the same woman. I'd stake my reputation on it.""Do we have a name," Damian asked."Working on it. Voice analysis narrows things down, it doesn't hand us an ID outright." Marcus cross-referenced something on a second screen, scrolling through personnel files with practiced speed. "But I started with the obvious place. Everyone employed at Voss and Associates in the last three years."He stopped scrolling, tapping a photo that filled the screen.Danielle Ashford. Junior Associate. Hired four years ago, straight out of law school."That's her," Marcus said. "I compared the emp