Wrecked By A Wounded Biker

Chapter 7 - Unbroken Chain

BY THE time Matthew arrived at her apartment that evening, Sophie was furious.

The moment he stepped inside, he took one look at her face and immediately frowned. "That expression usually means somebody has done something incredibly stupid. Should I be worried?"

Without answering, Sophie handed him her phone.

Matthew glanced at her before taking it. As he scrolled through the screenshots, the amusement vanished from his face. His expression darkened with every post he read.

“This is ridiculous,” he said, clenching his jaw. “When did this start?”

“I just saw it this morning,” Sophie replied.

When he reached the final screenshot, he tossed the phone onto the couch and swore under his breath. "She's behind this."

Sophie folded her arms. "You don't sound particularly shocked."

"I'm not shocked. I'm angry,” he said, his jaw tightened visibly.

She sighed. "I should have known she would pull something like this the moment the investigation started gaining attention."

Matthew started pacing across the living room. "I'm going to talk to her."

Sophie laughed, though there was no humor in it. "No, you're not."

His head snapped toward her. "And why exactly not?"

"Because that's what she wants, Matthew."

"What she wants is irrelevant."

"No, it isn't," Sophie countered. "If you storm into her office, her house, or whatever event she's currently attending, she wins. She wants a reaction. She wants attention. She wants people talking about the two of you again."

Matthew dragged a hand through his hair. "She doesn't get to drag your name through the mud."

She sighed. "Apparently she does."

Matthew’s brows drew together. "No."

The single word came out sharper than she expected.

Matthew stopped pacing and looked directly at her. "I don't care what she's saying about me. She can call me reckless, irresponsible, or every other insult she's been using for years. What I care about is her dragging you into this."

For a moment, Sophie simply stared at him. The anger radiating from him wasn't for himself. It was for her.

An uncomfortable warmth settled in her chest before she quickly pushed it aside. "You're focusing on the wrong thing."

Matthew frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The rumors themselves aren't the biggest problem,” she pointed out.

His expression shifted immediately.

Sophie could practically see the mechanic disappear and the strategist emerge.

"What are you seeing that I'm missing?" he asked.

She walked toward her desk and picked up a printed copy of several screenshots.

"Whoever is behind the sabotage operation benefits from this attention. Every rumor points back to Moore Customs. Every conversation keeps people focused on you, me, and the garage."

Matthew considered that carefully. "You think it's intentional."

"I think it's too coordinated not to be."

The room fell quiet.

Unfortunately, the look on Matthew's face told her he agreed. Before either of them could continue, a knock sounded at the door. Both turned toward the entrance.

Sophie frowned. "I'm not expecting anyone."

Matthew immediately looked suspicious. "Neither am I."

She opened the door to find a courier holding a sealed envelope. "Delivery for Sophie Smith."

Sophie accepted it. "Who sent it?"

The courier shook his head. "No sender information was provided."

Before she could ask anything else, he turned and headed back toward the elevator.

She closed the door and looked at the envelope. Matthew was already watching it. Neither of them liked surprises anymore.

Especially not anonymous ones.

Carefully, Sophie opened the envelope and emptied the contents onto her desk. A flash drive slid out. Nothing else accompanied it.

Matthew folded his arms. "You know, in movies, this is usually the part where the main characters make a terrible decision."

Sophie gave him a dry look. "Fortunately, I have trust issues and cybersecurity training."

Within minutes, she had isolated the drive inside a secure environment and opened the contents. Rows of financial records filled her screen.

Bank transfers.

Cryptocurrency transactions.

Corporate accounts.

Payment chains.

Matthew moved closer. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"I honestly don't know yet,” she said as she scrolled.

Sophie began reviewing the files one by one.

The deeper she went, the more uneasy she became.

The transactions connected multiple organizations involved in underground racing. Some payments linked to betting operations. Others connected to telemetry software contracts and race infrastructure.

Then she found another category entirely that made her tensed.

Matthew noticed immediately. "What is it?"

Sophie zoomed in on the records.

Several transactions repeated across different accounts. The amounts changed. The recipient companies changed. The routing paths changed.

But one name did not.

Her pulse began to rise as she scanned the whole page, reading the same name over and over again.

"Sophie,” Matthew called her. “Translate everything to me. Numbers make me dizzy.”

But she didn't answer.

Instead, she slowly turned the laptop toward him. Matthew leaned forward. The moment he read the screen, the color drained from his face.

His jaw clenched. "No, that’s impossible.”

The name sat there in black and white.

MOORE CUSTOMS GARAGE.

Again and again.

The transactions stretched across multiple months.

Matthew stepped closer to the screen as if proximity alone might change what he was seeing. "There has to be a mistake,” he said. “I didn’t do any of that. I’m not even familiar with those accounts.”

Sophie wished she believed that.

Unfortunately, she had spent too many years studying patterns, anomalies, and financial trails to ignore what was in front of her.

"Matthew..."

"I've never seen these accounts before,” he said, his voice sounded strained. "I swear to you, Sophie."

She looked at him. The certainty in his expression made this even harder. Because he looked genuinely shocked. Genuinely confused.

And that made the evidence infinitely more dangerous.

Slowly, she folded her arms. "You told me everything stopped when Luis was fired."

Matthew stared at the transactions.

For the first time since she had met him, he seemed completely at a loss for an explanation.

The silence that followed felt heavier than any argument. Because the records on her screen told a very different story.

According to the files on her screen, money connected to race sabotage operations had continued moving through accounts linked to Moore Customs long after Matthew claimed every illegal connection had ended.

It still continued.