Page 41 of Hacker Betrayed

“Can’t. She left on vacation this morning. I think she’ll be back in a couple of weeks,” Ashlyn offered.

“Does she know you didn’t take the drink?” I asked, thinking we could play to Ashlyn’s intended death.

I could be wrong in assuming Lydia tried to drug my sister, but a couple of things slipped into place. Lydia had told me Ashlyn was depressed, and lately, she thought her company was failing and worried she might take her own life. “Why is your company failing? Lydia mentioned how you might shut down in a week.”

Ashlyn frowned. “The companies I use are holding my product hostage for more money. I had my computers hacked at work and a large amount of money taken, but I started to dig, and someone’s skimmed off the top for a while. Jordan thought my CFO fudged the books. We’d set him up only to find out someone was manipulating the data he received. She’s right; I’m close to shutting down. I can’t afford to get my product. But nobody knows except the people in this room.”

“I said I would give you the money,” Jordan grumbled. “It’s only ten million.”

Ashlyn shook her head. “You already gave me ten million, and I’ve barely paid you back. How can you possibly want to keep handing me money when we don’t know where it will go? I’m a failure at business. I think it’s time I accept that.”

“To me, it seems like you have a person who wants you to fail,” I countered. “I have a team of hackers and a finance person who would love a numbers challenge. What I don’t understand is why Lydia would try to kill you.”

“I don’t know. Every so often, she shows up to my work, but otherwise, I only see her at Mom and Dad’s, which I don’t go to very often.”

“At least we know the drink wasn’t for Mia,” Paxton added with a look at me. “But we still don’t know who tried to kill you in the past. Plus we added another puzzle.”

“Ashlyn, tomorrow I’ll bring a couple of people over from work to start with your books. When we have the evidence against Lydia, we can take her down. I won’t let her get away with whatever she is planning.”

I planned to have Brock track my sister and make sure she was gone, because the second we had the information I needed, I would fly anywhere in the world and take her down.

CHAPTER15

Mia

Patty’s fingers flew over the keyboard of the laptop she was using. Jessica, my boss's wife, had paper scattered across the table in my sister’s office. I was no help when it came to hacking or forensic accounting. My task would come next. When they found the link from Ashlyn’s company to Lydia, I could jump on the Blackwood plane and track my sister down.

Paxton dropped me off at my sister’s warehouse before heading into the clinic for a long day of his own. He had a staff meeting scheduled first thing. He said his sister planned to meet with him to discuss handling the business split.

Brock had contacted the chief of police, and the tech department was able to deconstruct the video. Unsurprisingly, Dr. Cliff was the man shown. Paxton’s mentor refused to give any information up. Felicity hadn’t said a word either. The only people who talked were the cop and the coroner, the latter who Felicity had incriminating evidence over, and they both lost their jobs.

“You have a lot of spyware on your computer,” Patty announced without looking up. “I disabled the camera and mic, so at least they can’t hear us. The only thing is the person heard today was when we came in. So whoever hacked your system knows we are on to them.”

My heart broke when the tears streamed down Ashlyn’s face. She’d been in the office before we arrived and had everything laid out. When I asked for Jessica’s help, she gave me a list of items she would need from Ashlyn.

“So that’s how the person knew my plan to see if my CFO was embezzling,” Ashlyn said as she waved toward the stack of documents. She sighed as she dropped down in her chair. “I should close my doors and admit I failed. The vendors are about to pull out, and I’m not going to have the capital to purchase the items for Christmas. This business was mine and my grandma’s dream. She’d roll over in her grave if she knew the mess I created.”

“I think Grandma would be proud of your line. Look at your following on social media. People love your designs.” She had millions of followers on Instagram. “I’m sure we can find you investors after taking down the person trying to make you fail.”

Patty looked up from the laptop. “I’ll invest. For some reason, people like to wear what I have on. Many of your looks will work for me. See, it’s a win-win: I invest and wear the clothes, and your sales skyrocket. Which in return lines my pocket.” Patty and Sam’s wedding photo was on the cover of the gossip magazines. Many have copied her look.

“I’m all for investing when I see something I like. I’ll back your company too,” Jessica added.

I didn’t have anywhere close to the funds Jessica and Patty had, but I wanted to help my sister. “I can invest a little, but I don’t have capital like these two.”

“You’re all being way too kind. I’m not sure how I’ll ever repay everyone,” Ashlyn replied, dabbing her cheek with a Kleenex. She’d thrown her arms around me when I walked into her office this morning and burst into tears.

Neither Mom nor Dad had called or asked if I was okay. Sebastian, on the other hand, blew up my phone until I answered his call. He asked around, but nobody saw Lydia do anything. He also confirmed she took the family's jet to Mexico.

The lights in the room flickered off, and a second later, they came back on.

“That happens all the time. The warehouse is old, but it works for what I need,” Ashlyn said.

“Someone logs into your computer around midnight each night,” Patty said, her lips curling into a devilish smile. “And the person left me a nice digital footprint.”

“Jessica, you figure anything out?”

Jessica nodded. “The person thought they could move the money around enough that I wouldn’t find the trail. Over four years, around twenty-seven million dollars was skimmed off the top and into a shell account. I’ll have to hand it over to Brock to figure out who the account belongs to.”

---