My Boss's Hidden Heir (Elara and Marcus) novel Chapter 149

Chapter 149

Mimi’s POV

2

95 VALEROve

Mimi sat in Dante’s apartment nursing a cup of coffee that had gone cold an hour ago. The TV was muted but still playing news coverage of Marcus’s scandal, the same blurred screenshots cycling through every few

minutes.

Dante paced the length of his living room for what must have been the hundredth time, his phone pressed to his ear. He’d been making calls since he got back from the penthouse, reaching out to contacts, pulling in favors, trying to find something they could use.

“I don’t care what time it is in London,” Dante said into the phone. “I need those records by tomorrow morning… Yes, I understand it’s a holiday… Double your usual fee then.”

He hung up and immediately dialed another number.

Mimi watched him work, impressed despite the circumstances. This was a side of Dante she’d only glimpsed before. The lawyer who’d built his career on being smarter and more ruthless than everyone else in the room.

“Anything?” she asked when he finally set the phone down.

“Maybe. I have someone pulling Penelope’s offshore account records. I should have them by morning.”

“You think there’s something there?”

“I know there is. I’ve been investigating Penelope for months. Ever since the investor meeting sabotage. Something about her story has never added up.”

Mimi set down her coffee cup. “What do you mean?”

Dante walked to his desk and pulled out a thick folder. “Penelope married Marcus’s father twelve years ago. She was thirty-eight, he was sixty-two. Everyone assumed she was a gold digger who got lucky.”

“Wasn’t she?”

“Probably. But here’s the thing. Before she married into the Thorne family, Penelope was broke. Not just regular broke, but drowning in debt. Credit cards maxed out, medical bills in collections, eviction notices.”

“So she found a rich man to save her. Tale as old as time.”

“Except the timing doesn’t work.” Dante opened the folder and spread documents across his desk. “Penelope’s debts were paid off three months before she even met Marcus’s father. Someone gave her a substantial amount of money right before she entered their lives.”

Mimi stood and walked to the desk, looking at the bank statements Dante was pointing to. “How much money?”

“Two hundred thousand dollars. Deposited in cash over the course of two weeks. Then another hundred thousand a month later.”

16:59 Mon, May 11 M…

Chapter 149

57

65 vouchers

“Where did it come from?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. The deposits were made at different branches, always just under the reporting threshold. Whoever gave her the money knew how to avoid triggering automatic investigations.”

Mimi picked up one of the bank statements. “You think someone paid her to marry Marcus’s father?”

“I think someone paid her to get close to the Thorne family. Whether that was specifically to marry the father or just to gain access, I don’t know yet.”

“But who would do that? And why?”

Dante pulled out another file. “That’s where it gets interesting. I started looking into Penelope’s background before she came to New York. Her employment history, her social connections, places she lived.”

“And?”

“And I found a gap. Two years where there’s no record of her anywhere. No tax returns, no employment, no lease agreements, nothing. It’s like she just disappeared.”

Mimi felt a chill run down her spine. “People don’t just disappear for two years.”

“No, they don’t. Unless they’re hiding from something. Or someone.”

Dante’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it and his expression shifted. “This is the contact in London. Hold on.”

He answered and spent the next five minutes listening, occasionally asking questions in a tone that got progressively more intense. When he hung up, he looked shaken.

“What?” Mimi demanded.

“The offshore accounts. They trace back to a company called Meridian Holdings. Registered in the Cayman Islands fifteen years ago.”

“Fifteen years? But Penelope didn’t marry into the family until twelve years ago.”

“Exactly. She’s been connected to this money stream for longer than we thought. And Meridian Holdings has been making regular payments to her the entire time. Not huge amounts, but consistent. Like a salary.”

“A salary for what?”

“That’s the question.” Dante turned to his computer and started typing. “Let me see what else I can find about Meridian Holdings.”

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