Chapter 3
Thomas Lane had not moved to Arizona.
He lived in Denver.
That was the first lie.
The second was his reason for leaving.
His mother was healthy and living in Indiana.
Claire’s investigators discovered both without contacting him directly.
Then came the financial records.
Two weeks before Thomas resigned, a consulting company he had quietly formed received $45,000.
Payer:
Sloan Strategic Advisory.
Preston’s company.
Dante stared at the transfer.
“Consulting for what?”
“No invoice yet,” Claire said.
“Find one.”
“We are.”
Dante’s immediate instinct was to call Thomas and demand an explanation.
Claire refused.
“You are the worst possible person to make that call.”
“He worked for me.”
“Which makes you intimidating whether you intend to be or not.”
“I don’t threaten employees.”
“You are Dante Caradonna.”
He stared at her.
Claire continued.
“He may cooperate. He may lawyer up. Either way, we do this cleanly.”
Dante let her.
Meanwhile, Elena reconstructed the final weeks of their relationship.
They had met nine months earlier during the restoration of a historic Caradonna hotel.
Elena worked for an architectural preservation firm reviewing decorative interiors.
The relationship started privately.
Not because she was ashamed.
Because Dante’s public life made privacy difficult.
They dated for four months.
Dinners.
Weekends.
A few nights at his Lake Michigan property.
Then, after what Elena remembered as an ordinary weekend together, Dante became distant.
At least that was what she believed.
She sent him a message Monday morning.
No response.
Another Tuesday.
Nothing.
Wednesday evening she received a reply from his private account.
This has become more complicated than I want. I think it is better that we stop here. Please respect that.
Dante stared at the printout.
“I didn’t write this.”
Elena looked at him.
“I thought you did.”
“I was in New York that Wednesday.”
“You still had a phone.”
“I know.”
He rubbed a hand over his face.
“What did I receive from you?”
Dante’s own message archive showed something different.
A message from Elena on Monday:
I’ve been thinking. This isn’t the life I want. Please don’t contact me again.
Elena stared at it.
“I didn’t send that.”
They sat in silence.
Two people had spent five months believing the other ended their relationship.
Claire looked at both.
“Somebody interfered before anyone knew about the pregnancy.”
That mattered.
The first forged break-up messages occurred weeks before Elena took a pregnancy test.
So the scheme had not begun because of the baby.
Dante turned toward Claire.
“Victoria?”
“Maybe.”
“Preston?”
“Maybe.”
“Thomas?”
“Almost certainly involved in access somehow.”
“But the motive existed before the pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
That was the second question.
Why separate Dante and Elena before anyone knew there was a child?
The answer might have been ordinary jealousy.
Victoria had already been in Dante’s broader social circle.
She had shown romantic interest.
Dante had not reciprocated while he was with Elena.
Three weeks after the apparent breakup, Victoria began spending more time around him at business dinners.
Two months later they were dating.
Three months later they were engaged.
The timeline looked terrible.
It still did not prove she engineered anything.
Then Dante’s cybersecurity team found an access anomaly.
On the night the false breakup message was sent to Elena, Thomas Lane’s administrative credentials accessed Dante’s private communications console from an IP address associated with the Caradonna-Sloan joint venture office.
Thomas was not supposed to be there that night.
Preston was.
Dante looked at the report.
May you like
The pregnancy may have become useful later.
But somebody had wanted Elena gone before the baby existed as a known fact.
