Chapter 5 - The Man Daniel FoundDaniel Hawthorne spent the night in a hotel room he couldn't afford.
That fact would have been funny if the man hadn't looked so broken.
His black credit cards were frozen.
His company was collapsing.
His family was being evicted.
His wife had exposed him as a man who had built his entire identity on money that had never belonged to him.
But Daniel wasn't thinking about humiliation anymore.
He was thinking about revenge.
At 2:15 AM, he called the only man he believed could save him.
Richard Cross.
Cross Meridian Capital.
Vanguard's oldest rival.
Richard answered on the fourth ring.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I need your help.”
A pause.
Then laughter.
“Daniel Hawthorne asking me for help.”
“I'll give you Hawthorne Real Estate.”
“You don't own it.”
“I'll give you the contracts.”
“You don't own those either.”
Daniel clenched his jaw.
“I know where Vanguard is vulnerable.”
The laughter stopped.
“Go on.”
“I know who Evelyn Vance is.”
Another silence.
Richard's voice became quieter.
“Say that again.”
“My wife.”
“Your wife?”
“Evelyn.”
Richard leaned back in his office chair.
For years, Vanguard had been the one company nobody could penetrate.
Its owner was almost mythical.
Anonymous.
Untouchable.
Every major banker had theories.
Some believed Vanguard belonged to an old European family.
Others believed it was controlled by a consortium.
One rumor claimed a deceased billionaire had left the company to a mysterious heir.
Nobody had ever confirmed anything.
Until tonight.
“You're telling me Evelyn Vance is Vanguard?”
“Yes.”
“And you married her?”
“Yes.”
Richard laughed again.
But this time there was no amusement in it.
There was hunger.
“Daniel, you may be the luckiest idiot I've ever met.”
“I need protection.”
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“I thought you wanted information.”
“I want information.”
“What do you want?”
“Everything.”
Daniel hesitated.
Richard continued.
“Her companies. Her accounts. Her acquisition history. Her people. Her vulnerabilities.”
Daniel stared at the hotel window.
“And what do I get?”
“You get your life back.”
That was enough.
Daniel agreed.
He didn't know that Richard Cross had already begun preparing a different plan.
A plan that didn't involve saving Daniel.
It involved destroying Evelyn.
The next morning, I sat across from Arthur in Vanguard's private war room.
Three screens displayed corporate structures.
Another showed security footage.
A third showed a map of every property connected to the Hawthorne family.
“Victor Hale didn't disappear,” I said.
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
Arthur slid a photograph toward me.
I looked at it.
A man in a charcoal coat stood outside a train station.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Victor.
“When was this taken?”
“Yesterday.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Yesterday?”
Arthur nodded.
“He's been monitoring Vanguard for six months.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because we didn't know what he wanted.”
I stood.
“Find him.”
Arthur looked at me.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“And if he refuses?”
I turned toward the window.
“Then find out why.”
A message appeared on one of the screens.
CROSS MERIDIAN CAPITAL HAS ACQUIRED 17% OF HAWTHORNE REAL ESTATE'S DEBT.
I stared.
Richard Cross had moved faster than expected.
Arthur's jaw tightened.
“That's not an investment.”
“No.”
“It's a weapon.”
I nodded.
Daniel had found an enemy.
But he had no idea he'd just invited a bigger one into the war.
That afternoon, Daniel received an envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
Evelyn and Noah.
Taken outside The Obsidian.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
You want your wife back?
Daniel stared at the photograph.
Then another line appeared.
Help us break her.
For the first time since Evelyn left him, Daniel smiled.
May you like
He thought salvation had finally arrived.
He didn't understand that he had just been recruited into a war he couldn't possibly control.
Related Stories
