Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Stay Silent
By noon, Thorn Tower was under lockdown.
Employees were told it was a security exercise.
The rumor spread anyway.
People whispered in elevators.
Executives received sudden instructions not to leave their floors.
Julian gathered his inner circle inside a private room.
Salenzo.
Holloway.
Celeste Rowan.
And his cousin Adrian Thorne.
Dileia sat outside with a laptop.
She had been told to stay away.
She did not.
Julian entered the room ten minutes later.
“How much did you hear?”
“Enough.”
Adrian frowned.
“You brought her into this?”
Dileia looked at him.
“Apparently nobody remembered to ask me whether I wanted to be in it.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Julian ignored him.
“We need to identify who has access to the hidden accounts.”
Dileia opened her laptop.
“I already did.”
Everyone looked at her.
She projected the access logs.
“Fourteen people can initiate the transfer.”
“Fourteen?” Salenzo asked.
“Technically.”
She highlighted the first seven.
“These can initiate.”
Then the next four.
“These can modify.”
Then the last three.
“These can erase.”
Julian leaned closer.
“Who can do all three?”
Dileia clicked.
One name appeared.
Adrian Thorne.
The room went silent.
Adrian stared.
“That is absurd.”
Dileia looked at him.
“I didn’t make the access permissions.”
“I have nothing to do with these transfers.”
“I didn’t accuse you.”
“You just put my name on the screen.”
“That is data.”
Julian raised a hand.
Everyone stopped.
Adrian looked at Julian.
“You believe her?”
Julian replied, “I believe the evidence.”
Adrian laughed once.
“You’re making a huge mistake.”
Julian’s gaze did not move.
“Perhaps.”
Dileia noticed something.
Adrian was angry.
But not surprised.
His reaction was too rehearsed.
She looked at the access file again.
Something bothered her.
A transfer had been executed under Adrian’s credentials three years ago.
Then she checked the time.
Adrian had been overseas.
She turned.
“That transaction is impossible.”
Adrian smirked.
“So now you admit the system is unreliable.”
“No.”
Dileia pointed to the timestamp.
“The system is accurate.”
“Then your conclusion is wrong.”
Dileia shook her head.
“Your credentials were used in Chicago at 2:14 a.m. on a date when you were in London.”
Adrian went pale.
Julian noticed.
“Someone cloned your access.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
“That means whoever did it had administrator privileges.”
Dileia nodded.
“Exactly.”
She began tracing the access chain.
One administrator could overwrite credentials.
Another could authorize.
A third could scrub the trail.
She followed the sequence until she reached an encrypted terminal.
The user ID was hidden.
She tried the recovery key.
Rejected.
She tried a second.
Rejected.
A third.
The system froze.
Holloway moved closer.
“Stop.”
Dileia did not.
She recognized a pattern in the encryption.
“It’s not random.”
“What?”
“It’s a substitution system.”
Julian looked at her.
“Can you open it?”
“I think so.”
She typed slowly.
Then stopped.
“This key is personal.”
“To whom?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She examined the data.
A string of letters appeared.
DILEIA.
She felt ice travel through her body.
Julian looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“I have no idea.”
Adrian spoke.
“Convenient.”
Dileia ignored him.
She remembered the first financial class she had taken in college.
Professor Martin Hale had taught them that criminals often used emotional bait in security systems.
“People use names they care about,” she whispered.
She typed Tommy’s name.
The system unlocked.
A directory appeared.
Inside were files labeled with dates.
The earliest one was fourteen months before Tommy’s death.
The latest was two weeks ago.
Dileia’s throat tightened.
Someone had continued monitoring him even after he died.
She opened the newest file.
A photograph appeared.
Dileia recognized the person instantly.
Mrs. Ruth.
Taken outside their apartment three days earlier.
Dileia stood abruptly.
“They’ve been watching her.”
Julian’s expression changed.
He made one phone call.
“Protect Dileia’s home.”
Then another.
“Put a team outside the building.”
Dileia grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t want men with guns frightening her.”
“They won’t enter.”
“You don’t understand.”
“My people are good at making people understand.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Dileia took a breath.
“Mrs. Ruth is confused. If strangers surround the apartment, she’ll panic. She may run.”
Julian paused.
Dileia looked at him.
“Send one person she can trust.”
Julian nodded.
“Done.”
Their eyes remained locked.
Something changed.
Dileia saw it.
He was no longer looking at her as an employee.
He was looking at her as someone whose judgment mattered.
That night, Julian came to her apartment personally.
He wore no jacket.
No tie.
He looked less like a crime boss and more like a tired man.
Mrs. Ruth sat in the living room.
She stared at Julian for several seconds.
Then she said, “You came back.”
Julian froze.
Dileia looked at him.
“You’ve met him before?”
Mrs. Ruth looked confused.
“Of course.”
“Who is he?”
Mrs. Ruth pointed toward Julian.
“The boy who promised Tommy he would keep us safe.”
Julian’s face changed.
Dileia stopped breathing.
“You promised him?”
Julian nodded slowly.
“I did.”
Mrs. Ruth frowned.
“Then why did you let him die?”
Julian closed his eyes for one second.
The question landed like a bullet.
“I tried.”
Mrs. Ruth shook her head.
“He asked you for help.”
“I know.”
“He told me the money would get people killed.”
“I know.”
Dileia stared at Julian.
“You knew Tommy was afraid.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
She laughed bitterly.
“From what? The truth?”
Julian had no answer.
Dileia turned away.
“I don’t need protection from the truth.”
Julian looked at her.
“You might.”
“No.”
She faced him.
“I needed someone to tell me why my husband died.”
He said nothing.
Her eyes filled.
“I needed someone to tell me that it wasn’t my fault.”
Julian’s voice became very quiet.
“It wasn’t.”
Dileia looked down.
For the first time since Tommy’s death, someone had said the words without asking anything in return.
Later that night, Julian left.
At two in the morning, his phone rang.
Holloway’s voice came through.
“We found Marcus Vale.”
Julian sat upright.
“Where?”
“Alive.”
Julian’s expression changed.
“Impossible.”
“He’s been living under another name.”
“Bring him to me.”
A pause.
“There’s a problem.”
“What?”
“He asked to speak to Dileia.”
Julian was silent.
Then he asked the only question that mattered.
“Why?”
Holloway replied.
“He says Tommy told him Dileia would eventually become the person who brings down the entire operation.”
Julian stared into the darkness.
For the first time in years, he felt something very close to fear.
May you like
Not fear for himself.
Fear for the widow downstairs in his life who still had no idea how important she had become.
