The Captain I Married by Chance novel Chapter 458

"What did you find?"

When Nathan stayed quiet for too long, Nora finally prompted him.

Pulling himself back from his thoughts, he looked at her and spoke quietly. "Lawrence Gunn's money was acquired illegally."

"It's highly likely he was laundering money for someone."

Nora wasn't entirely shocked by the revelation.

When a broke man suddenly acquires massive wealth overnight, the methods are usually found in the criminal code.

"Are you guessing that his company went bankrupt because someone was holding blackmail material over him?"

"You think Lawrence Gunn has already been 'taken care of,' don't you?"

A bright gleam flashed in Nathan's eyes.

He let out a low sigh and nodded. "Nora, you are terrifyingly brilliant."

Nora looked away, refusing to take the bait.

Nathan was genuinely curious how she had pieced it together with zero evidence.

And so, he asked her directly.

Nora kept her eyes on the window, watching the shadows of the garage before finally answering. "Because the case was transferred."

"If it was just a simple homicide, the Luminport City precinct is more than capable of handling it. There'd be no reason to hand it over."

"The fact that it was pulled means it's infinitely more complex than a standard murder."

Only cases involving massive syndicates and cross-jurisdictional cooperation ever warranted a transfer.

Her earlier suspicions were dead on. Between the threats and Maisie's murder, everything had wrapped up entirely too neatly. That false sense of ease was the biggest red flag of all.

Looking back, Quinn and Michael's motive for killing Maisie couldn't have just been over a secret relationship.

"I'm guessing Toby mailed those threat letters. Someone—either Michael or someone on his team—figured out his endgame and pulled the strings from the shadows to help him out."

"As for the motive... maybe they were just sick of living under someone else's thumb?"

Nathan's theory aligned perfectly with hers.

"Since the investigation is out of our hands, Toby will be transferred as well. He and Moira Flynn definitely know where the bodies are buried. Once the heat turns up on Michael's case, Toby will likely step forward and spill everything."

Nora shook her head, a complex knot of emotions tightening in her chest.

"The entertainment industry is even more toxic than we thought."

What initially looked like a twisted prank was actually a sprawling web of corruption.

And Maisie—the one person who had no place in this deadly game—became its ultimate victim, her life permanently extinguished in Luminport City.

"Don't worry. The transfer proves the higher-ups are taking this seriously. With multiple agencies digging in, the truth will surface eventually."