The Hidden File
2284 Words
Katherina’s POV
“Where did you get that?”
Jareth’s voice stopped me before I could put the phone away. He was standing near the bedroom door, staring at the picture of my grandmother on the screen. There was something different about him now. The calm expression he always wore around his family had disappeared, replaced by something I had rarely seen from him before. He looked genuinely disturbed.
I held the phone closer to myself. “Why do you want to know?”
“Katherina, where did you get that picture?”
“That is not an answer.”
He took a few steps into the room, but I moved back before he could come closer. For three years, Jareth and I had shared a bedroom without really sharing a life. We were husband and wife on paper, but there were days when we barely spoke more than a few sentences to each other. I had learned not to expect explanations from him, especially when it came to his family.
Tonight was different.
“You know my grandmother,” I said.
His eyes remained on the phone.
“I know who she is.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He looked at me.
I waited.
Finally, he said, “I have seen her before.”
My heart began beating faster. “Where?”
“Not personally.”
“Then where?”
He walked toward the small table beside the window and picked up the file he had brought into the room. “I found her name in some old Valmont records.”
I stared at him.
“What kind of records?”
“Property records.”
“Which property?”
“A property in London.”
I immediately remembered the transactions I had been following for months. There was a London company buried beneath several layers of ownership that had received a large amount of money from Valmont Holdings. The company appeared to have no obvious connection to the Valmont family, yet Eric Harlan had personally approved several documents connected to it.
I had suspected there was something important about it.
I had never imagined my grandmother’s name would be involved.
“Show me.”
Jareth hesitated before opening the file. “You need to understand that I haven’t figured everything out.”
“Then show me what you have.”
He placed the documents on the table.
I picked up the first page and started reading. It was an old property transfer from twelve years ago. The name of the original owner was listed at the top, followed by the name of a company I didn’t recognize.
Then I saw the signature.
Irina Roswell.
I stopped breathing for a moment.
I knew that signature.
I had seen it on birthday cards, family documents, company papers and letters she had written to me when I was younger.
“This is hers,” I said.
“Yes.”
“What did she own?”
“A building in London.”
“Where is it now?”
“Gone.”
I looked at him.
“Gone?”
“It was demolished nine years ago.”
I turned the page.
The property had changed hands several times before it was demolished. What caught my attention was the ownership structure after the demolition. The company connected to the property continued receiving money through different business entities.
My eyes moved quickly across the documents.
Then I saw something that made me stop.
“This company.”
Jareth looked at the page.
“What about it?”
“It received money from Valmont Holdings.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“84 million dollars over four years.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“That is what I have been trying to find out.”
“You investigated this?”
“I started looking into it months ago.”
I studied him carefully.
“You knew about this before tonight.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
“I didn’t know it had anything to do with you.”
“You knew my grandmother’s name was on the original property.”
“I knew.”
“And you still didn’t tell me.”
Jareth looked away.
For the first time, I realized something.
He had not simply been ignoring me all these years.
He had been investigating things too.
The question was why.
“What were you looking for?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Jareth.”
“I was trying to understand where the money was going.”
“Why?”
“Because Valmont Holdings has been losing money in places my father doesn’t know about.”
That caught my attention.
“What do you mean?”
He pulled another document from the file.
“Some of the company’s losses are real. Others are being created.”
I read the document.
Several payments had been classified as legal expenses, consulting fees and property management costs. On the surface, everything looked normal.
But the companies receiving the money had common directors.
And one name appeared across several of them.
Eric Harlan.
I looked up.
“Eric.”
Jareth nodded.
“Eric has handled our legal affairs for almost twenty years. My father trusts him completely.”
“But you don’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I found documents that shouldn’t exist.”
“What documents?”
“Old agreements between Valmont Holdings and companies that were never supposed to be connected to us.”
I looked at the papers again.
“Does your father know?”
“I tried to tell him.”
“And?”
“He told me to stop looking.”
That sounded exactly like Tyler.
I placed the papers on the table.
“What about Logan?”
Jareth’s expression changed.
“What about him?”
“Does he know?”
“I don’t know.”
I watched him closely.
“You’re lying.”
His eyes met mine.
“You’ve been investigating him too.”
“I’ve been investigating everyone.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is moving money through Valmont Holdings.”
I went quiet.
Jareth studied me.
“You’ve known for a while.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Long enough.”
He seemed surprised.
That almost made me smile.
For three years, the Valmont family had assumed I knew nothing about business.
They had no idea how much I knew.
They also had no idea how much I controlled.
I picked up the document again.
“Who owns this company now?”
Jareth didn’t answer immediately.
I looked at him.
“Who?”
“The ownership is hidden.”
“That isn’t possible.”
“It is when the company is registered through several private trusts.”
I froze.
Private trusts.
That was how some of my family’s hidden assets had been protected after Irina disappeared.
My grandmother had taught me about them when I was sixteen.
I turned another page.
There was a list of trustees.
Most of the names were unfamiliar.
One wasn’t.
G. Roswell.
My hand went still.
Jareth noticed.
“What is it?”
I didn’t answer.
The initials belonged to my mother.
Georgina Roswell.
My mother had always told me she had nothing to do with the old London properties.
She had told me that Irina had handled those matters alone.
Now her initials were sitting on a document connected to Valmont Holdings.
I reached for my phone.
Jareth stopped me.
“Who are you calling?”
“My mother.”
“Why?”
“Because I want answers.”
Before I could dial, my phone vibrated.
It was Katniss.
I answered immediately.
“Katherina?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you alone?”
I glanced at Jareth.
“Yes.”
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, “No, you’re not.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“I can hear someone breathing.”
I looked at Jareth.
He was standing several feet away.
“Katniss, it’s Jareth.”
There was a long silence.
Then Katniss said, “You need to leave that room.”
“Why?”
“Because Alejandro found something.”
“What?”
“He found surveillance records.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Surveillance records of what?”
“Of you.”
I looked at Jareth.
“From when?”
“Before your marriage.”
I couldn’t speak.
Katniss continued, “Someone had been tracking you for almost two years before you met Jareth.”
The room seemed to change around me.
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Where did you find the records?”
“In an old private security database.”
“Who hired them?”
“That is the problem.”
“What?”
“The person who paid for the surveillance used your grandmother’s name.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Katniss lowered her voice.
“We found payments made under the name Irina Roswell.”
I looked at Jareth.
He was watching me.
I could tell from his expression that he had heard enough to understand the seriousness of the situation.
“But that’s impossible,” I said.
Katniss didn’t answer.
“Katniss.”
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“The surveillance continued after your grandmother supposedly disappeared.”
I sat down slowly.
“How long?”
“Until three months ago.”
I stared at the wall.
Three months ago.
That meant someone had been watching me long after Irina vanished.
It also meant whoever was behind it knew where I lived, where I worked, where I went and who I met.
Someone had been following me while I lived inside the Valmont penthouse.
Someone could have been watching me every day.
“Did you find out who was receiving the reports?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the files were deleted.”
“Completely?”
“No.”
I waited.
“We recovered one.”
“What was in it?”
“A picture.”
“What picture?”
“Of you and Jareth.”
My eyes moved toward my husband.
“Where was it taken?”
“Outside the Valmont penthouse.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
I felt a chill run through me.
Two years ago, I had believed my life was boring.
I had spent most of my days doing exactly what the Valmont family expected from me.
Cooking when they asked.
Attending family events.
Staying out of business discussions.
Keeping quiet.
I had thought I was watching them.
Now I realized someone had been watching me too.
“Send me the picture,” I said.
“I already did.”
I checked my phone.
There was an attachment.
I opened it.
It showed Jareth and me standing outside the penthouse.
We were dressed for a charity event.
Jareth was walking ahead of me.
I was behind him.
But that wasn’t what frightened me.
In the reflection of the building opposite us, there was a man standing across the street.
He was holding a camera.
I zoomed in.
His face was partly hidden.
But I recognized his coat.
I had seen it before.
At the Valmont charity gala.
At the London office.
And once outside my grandmother’s old property.
I whispered, “I know him.”
Jareth came closer.
“Who?”
I showed him the picture.
His face changed.
“That’s impossible.”
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
Jareth didn’t answer.
“Jareth.”
He took the phone from my hand.
“That man works for my father.”
“Who?”
“His name is Victor.”
“Victor what?”
“Victor Hale.”
I had heard the name before.
Victor Hale was one of the largest shareholders connected to Valmont Holdings.
He was also one of the people I had quietly investigated.
But there was something Jareth hadn’t noticed.
I zoomed in again.
Victor was not looking at me, he was looking at Jareth.
And beside him was another person, a woman.
Her face was partly hidden by the car door.
I stared at the picture for several seconds, then I recognized her.
I dropped the phone.
Jareth caught it before it hit the floor.
“Katherina?”
I couldn’t answer.
The woman in the picture was someone I had trusted for years.
Someone who had always claimed she knew nothing about my grandmother’s disappearance.
Someone who had stood beside me during the hardest years of my life.
Someone who should never have been there.
My mother, Georgina Roswell.
Jareth looked from the picture to me “That’s your mother.”
“But why would she be meeting Victor Hale?”
I didn’t know.
Then my phone rang again.
This time, it was my mother.
I answered “ Hello mom?”
Her voice was unusually quiet “Katherina, where are you?”
“At home.”
“With Jareth?”
“Yes.”
“Listen to me carefully. Do not trust anyone in that house.”
I looked at Jareth.
“Why?”
“Because your grandmother did not disappear.” My Mother Said
“What do you mean?”
“I mean she was never supposed to disappear in the first place.”
The call suddenly went dead.
I called back, but no answer.
I tried again, still nothing
Then a message appeared on my screen from an unknown number.
If you want your mother alive, come to the old Roswell estate before midnight. Come alone.
And don’t tell Jareth.
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