Chapter 9 - THE EMPLOYEE
Malcolm waited inside a private conference room with Rebecca.
A laptop sat open between them.
On the screen was an employee profile.
Evan Dalton.
Senior access-management engineer.
Meline recognized him immediately.
He had worked at Sentinel Arc for three years.
Quiet.
Competent.
Trusted.
“He accessed legal-structure files nine months ago,” Malcolm said.
“Why?”
“He claimed he was testing permissions after a software upgrade.”
“Was he authorized?”
“No.”
Meline stared at the screen.
“Did we investigate?”
“The system flagged it.”
Malcolm looked uncomfortable.
“The internal alert was closed.”
“By whom?”
He turned the laptop.
A second name appeared.
Jason Mercer.
Meline froze.
Jason had never worked at Sentinel Arc.
But two years earlier, she had allowed him limited guest access to a charity planning portal hosted on the same identity platform.
His credentials should have had no access to anything internal.
“How?”
“Social engineering.”
Malcolm zoomed in on the logs.
“Someone convinced Evan to assign Jason temporary support privileges.”
Meline’s stomach turned.
Jason had not merely waited for information.
He had penetrated her company’s security using the oldest vulnerability in the world.
Trust.
“Where is Evan?”
“Not answering.”
Rebecca spoke quietly.
“We sent investigators to his apartment.”
“And?”
“Empty.”
Meline looked at the access timeline.
Nine months ago.
Then another date.
Seven months ago.
Six months ago.
Five.
Jason had been searching repeatedly.
“Did he get financial statements?”
“No.”
“Ownership structure?”
“Partial.”
“Enough to see Cerberus.”
“Yes.”
Meline sat back.
That explained Robert’s application.
They knew the holding company existed.
They had guessed the rest.
Poorly.
“What else did Jason access?”
Malcolm hesitated.
“Meline.”
“What?”
“Personal archive folders.”
Her throat tightened.
“What kind?”
“Tax records.”
“Property records.”
“Insurance documents.”
Then Malcolm’s voice dropped.
“And your estate plan.”
Meline went still.
Rebecca looked up sharply.
“Which version?”
“The one from two years ago.”
Meline remembered.
Before the updated trust.
Before she removed Jason as a contingent beneficiary.
Her old estate documents had left him a significant inheritance if she died after marriage.
Rebecca understood at the same moment.
“That changes the stakes.”
Meline stared at the screen.
Jason had known.
Not the current numbers.
But enough.
Enough to know that marrying her might be worth millions.
Enough to know that if something happened to her after the wedding, an outdated version of her estate plan once favored him.
Meline’s hands became cold.
“Did he know I updated it?”
“No.”
Rebecca closed the laptop.
“We need to tell the agents.”
Meline nodded.
The fraud was no longer just a financial conspiracy.
There was no evidence Jason had planned violence.
But for the first time, she realized how little she actually knew about the man she had nearly married.
Then Noah entered.
“Meline.”
“What happened?”
“Jason is gone.”
Meline stood.
“What?”
“He disappeared from the groom’s suite while security was speaking with your father.”
Rebecca cursed.
Noah continued.
“And so is Sydney.”
Meline looked toward the hotel’s underground garage.
May you like
They had gone together.
Which meant the most dangerous part of the day might still be ahead.
