Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO WANTED MY NAME
Three hours earlier, I thought my biggest problem was recovering a leather sofa.
By noon, I was sitting inside Noah Grant’s office learning that my canceled wedding might have prevented corporate fraud.
Brandon sat across from me.
My father sat beside me.
Noah closed the conference-room door.
“Start talking.”
Brandon looked at me.
“I didn’t know everything.”
“That sentence usually means you knew enough.”
He flinched.
Good.
“Derek knew where Savannah worked,” Brandon said.
“Lots of people know where I work.”
“He knew your company was evaluating suppliers for the Midwest redevelopment contracts.”
My stomach tightened.
I worked in financial management for Arden Global Infrastructure.
We were preparing several large procurement deals.
Confidential deals.
“Who told him?”
Brandon looked ashamed.
“I mentioned it.”
“You mentioned confidential projects?”
“I didn’t give numbers.”
“What did you give?”
“Names.”
I stared.
“Which names?”
He listed three companies.
Every one had submitted bids.
Every one was connected to Derek Shaw through development partnerships.
Noah leaned back.
“So Shaw wanted inside information.”
Brandon nodded.
“He said once Savannah and I were married, there would be ways to help everybody.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everybody except me.”
“I told him you would never leak company records.”
“So?”
“He said he didn’t need you to.”
My pulse changed.
“What did he need?”
Brandon hesitated.
“Access.”
“To what?”
“Your laptop.”
I stood.
My father immediately looked at me.
“What?”
My hands were cold.
“My work laptop was at Brandon’s apartment twice last month.”
Brandon looked down.
“You let someone into your apartment?”
He nodded.
I could hardly speak.
“Did they touch my computer?”
“I don’t know.”
“Brandon.”
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
I called corporate security.
Within twenty minutes, my employer confirmed suspicious login attempts from my credentials.
Blocked.
Mostly.
One encrypted procurement folder had been accessed.
I stared at the phone after the call ended.
Noah asked:
“What was inside?”
“Bid evaluations.”
“Valuable?”
“Potentially worth tens of millions.”
Brandon whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
I turned.
“No, you’re scared.”
He looked at me.
“There’s a difference.”
My father said nothing, but pride flashed across his face.
Noah opened the trust filing again.
“Why the forged guarantee?”
Brandon rubbed both hands over his face.
“Derek said marriage would make Savannah less likely to go to police if she discovered anything.”
The room went silent.
I felt physically cold.
They had been counting on shame.
Social pressure.
Family loyalty.
The same weapons Gertrude used at the gate.
Noah asked:
“And the trust?”
“Collateral.”
“For what?”
“A development loan.”
“How much?”
Brandon whispered:
“Eight hundred thousand.”
My father stood.
I caught his sleeve.
“Dad.”
He sat again.
Barely.
I looked at Brandon.
“You were going to marry me and use my credit to help your boss borrow money while giving him access to confidential corporate files.”
“I didn’t know it would go that far.”
“You had a front-row seat.”
His eyes filled.
“I thought once we were married, I could fix it.”
I laughed once.
“That is the dumbest thing you’ve said so far.”
Noah interrupted.
“Savannah, there’s more.”
Of course there was.
He turned his laptop toward me.
He had searched the new trust’s corporate filings.
The registered agent was a company called Red Maple Advisory.
I knew it.
Not because of Brandon.
Because Red Maple had appeared in a fraud review at Arden Global six months earlier.
We had quietly rejected a vendor linked to it.
I leaned closer.
“What?”
Noah pointed at the ownership filing.
Red Maple Advisory belonged to someone named Patricia Shaw.
Derek’s wife.
But beneath the original registration was an archived prior owner.
Gertrude Pierce.
I stared at the screen.
Brandon looked stunned.
“My mother?”
Noah nodded.
“Your mother and Derek Shaw have been doing business together for at least four years.”
I turned slowly toward Brandon.
He looked genuinely shocked.
That was when I realized something important.
Brandon had betrayed me.
But even he might not know the full plan.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Derek Shaw.
Nobody spoke.
Noah said:
“Answer it.”
Brandon did.
Speakerphone.
Derek’s voice came through.
“Did she take the furniture?”
Brandon swallowed.
“Yes.”
Derek sighed.
“Idiot.”
May you like
Then he said:
“Tell your mother to destroy the second file before Savannah finds out what she paid for.”
