Chapter 579

Chapter 579:

The air rushed out of Belle’s lungs.

Auditors. From PwC. If they examined the books, they would trace the money back to the Juarez trust within a week.

“You cannot do that!” The panic in her voice flared hot and bright. “InnoTech is my company. You have no right to audit my internal ledgers p>

Grayson rose from his chair and leaned across the desk, his physical presence filling the space between them. “I have every right when you are building engines that carry my name,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “That is my final offer. Accept the auditors, or take your mystery money and get out of my building p>

Belle bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. She was trapped. If she walked away, she lost the project revenue she needed to repay the trust. If she stayed, the auditors would find the embezzlement.

“Fine,” she choked out. “Send your auditors p>

She turned and fled the office before he could see the sheer terror in her eyes.

Grayson watched her go. Then he leaned over and pressed his intercom.

“Silas,” he said, “run a deep background trace on that wire transfer. I want to know exactly which rock she crawled under to find that money p>

Dіѕ𝖼ov𝘦𝘳 𝘩i𝗱𝖽𝖾𝘯 g𝘦𝗺ѕ 𝘰ո

“Yes, sir,” Silas’s voice crackled back. “Also, sir—I just received a notification from the security detail. Miss Carson’s vehicle has arrived at The Institute in Virginia p>

Grayson went still.

The Institute. The premier aerospace research facility in the country. The place where Sophia was born.

“Why is she there?” he asked. Something in his chest performed a strange, painful stutter.

“Professor Eldridge Nelson personally invited her to view the new satellite propulsion labs,” Silas replied.

Grayson glanced at the mountain of paperwork on his desk, then at his schedule, packed wall to wall with crisis management meetings. He made his decision without hesitation.

“Cancel my afternoon,” he said. “Have the helicopter ready on the roof in ten minutes. I am going to Virginia p>

He reached for his suit jacket. He needed to escape the poison of Belle’s deceit, and for the first time in years, he felt an undeniable pull toward the one place he might find something real—toward the woman he needed to see, in the world where she truly belonged.

The back of the sleek town car felt like a prison cell on wheels. Belle Escobar sat rigidly in the leather seat, her knuckles white around her phone, frantically working through a conference call with Caleb and her legal team.

“The auditors from PwC are here,” Caleb hissed from the other end of the line, his voice a breathless whisper. “They are in the main conference room. They have demanded access to the central server p>

“Stall them!” Belle snapped, her voice cracking under the strain. “Give them the dummy ledgers we prepared for the SEC filing. Do whatever it takes p>