Chapter 17 - The Password
Adrian had used a private encrypted account.
Victor continued using it after his death.
Mia believed the account contained communications tying Northstar money to specific recipients.
She needed the password.
Samuel said only three people might know it.
Victor.
Adrian.
Me.
“I don’t.”
Then he asked:
“What was Adrian’s first dog?”
“Brutus.”
“Favorite number?”
“Seventeen.”
“Harper’s birthday?”
I stared at him.
He wasn’t asking randomly.
Adrian built passwords from family references.
Mia knew that too.
Investigators already had devices seized through proper process.
They did not need me trying combinations.
I provided background information.
Forensic specialists handled the rest.
Meanwhile, Claire’s cooperation increased as her position worsened.
She surrendered messages showing Victor repeatedly asking what I remembered about Adrian’s accounts.
One read:
HAS DOM EVER MENTIONED BRUTUS?
That connected the password theory.
Another:
IF MIA GETS INTO ADRIAN PRIVATE, WE’RE ALL FINISHED.
Claire replied:
WHAT’S IN IT?
Victor:
THINGS SHE WON’T UNDERSTAND.
He was wrong about Mia.
She understood enough.
Then a major payoff arrived.
Forensic specialists decrypted Adrian’s private archive using recovered password material from his old devices.
Inside were years of messages between Adrian and Victor.
They started as partners.
Adrian approved off-book payments intended to fund sensitive activities beyond normal company scrutiny.
Victor inflated them.
Created fake vendors.
Diverted money.
Adrian discovered it.
Instead of immediately exposing him, Adrian tried to quietly recover funds.
Victor threatened to expose Adrian’s own unauthorized spending.
Mutual blackmail.
That was why Adrian stayed trapped.
Eventually, Adrian began documenting everything for me.
He never delivered it.
He died first.
Victor inherited the secrets.
Then used Claire to watch whether I discovered them.
Mia found Adrian’s files instead.
She became the threat Victor expected me to become.
But the archive held something more recent.
A login after Adrian’s death.
Three days after Mia left the cabin.
User authentication from Victor’s device.
He opened a folder called H.C.
Harper Carter.
Inside:
Guardianship drafts.
Insurance records.
Photographs.
My stomach tightened.
Victor had been investigating Harper’s legal and financial position.
Why?
Adrian’s estate left certain assets directly to Harper.
Approximately $18 million.
Victor served as temporary financial advisor to the estate.
If Mia were declared missing or legally incapacitated, control over those assets would shift temporarily under a fiduciary structure.
And Victor had recommended the fiduciary.
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His own associate.
📖 Victor wasn’t only protecting stolen money; Mia’s disappearance could give his network temporary influence over Harper’s inheritance, turning a financial cover-up into a direct threat to her future. 👇
