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I knew the last name sounded familiar. I saw the news of his passing when I was looking through company documents. I just never thought to research further into it.

But now I do. And it takes me less than five minutes to realize that his shares, his executive-size shares, passed to his son in his will.

Slowly, the picture is coming together. I’m still missing some pieces, but at least now I know there are two more important players in this game.

It takes me another five minutes to find the son’s debts.

Of which he has a lot.

It looks like a gambling addiction, just based on the amounts he withdrew from ATMs and the days and times at which he made them. And if I add in the opening of a few credit cards over the past year to cover other expenses in his life, it’s a pretty safe guess.

Do his money troubles tie into the acquisition somehow? Or am I reaching at this point?

I’m just about to give up when something catches my attention. An unsaved number that texts the boyfriend every Friday at 2:16 p.m. It’s the consistency—and the fact that it’s exactly sixteen minutes after the hour, every single week—that makes me look closer.

Four messages into the text chain, my blood runs cold.

Because it does have to do with the acquisition.

Unknown: Tick tock. Where’s my money, Anthony?

Boyfriend: I almost have it, I swear. The deal is set to close soon.

Unknown: How soon?

Boyfriend: Within the month. The audit is almost finished, and when they find nothing, the seller will sign the papers. Then we’ll be able to raise the prices and make a shit ton of money.

Unknown: And how do you know you’ll be able to convince them to raise the prices?

Boyfriend: Don’t worry about it. I know a guy. We have it all planned out, how we’re going to convince everyone to restructure the company and make it into the cash cow it should be.

Unknown: And you’re that sure of that?

Boyfriend: Definitely. If this guy doesn’t want his life ruined, he’ll make it happen.

Holy fuck. They’re blackmailing the VP.

It’s not the VP who was my red flag in the acquisition. It’s the people around him.

It doesn’t take long for me to find an email between the VP and his boyfriend that paints the rest of the picture. They really do have it all planned out. The reason the VP went back on his initial vote against Randall’s company vision was because he had this planned out once the sale went through. There are slide decks filled with financial figures, with ways to get every possible cent out of the company. The numbers they’ve laid out would be hard to say no to. As nice as Randall’s vision was, people are too greedy to turn something like this down. And when I consider how much both of their votes count, I realize they wouldn’t need to convince that many people.

I snap my laptop closed and slide it back in my backpack. I need to tell Randall. I need to tell Lucas.

But just as I stand up, the lights go on.

And standing in the hallway, blocking my way to the exit, is the assistant and her boyfriend.

“Who the fuck are you?” the boyfriend snarls. “And how did you get in here?”

My heart feels like it’s about to pound out of my chest as fear slithers down my spine.

Think, Charli, think.

I swallow thickly, trying desperately to make my brain work. What’s a good reason for a strange girl to be in someone’s apartment?

“I was sent here,” I blurt out, grasping at straws. “They wanted to make sure the deal is still on.”

The boyfriend’s eyes immediately go wide with understanding.