Chapter 4 - The Shadow Network
I couldn't rely on the police alone. If Richard’s threats were real, a standard investigation might trigger a trap he had laid for my company years ago. I needed someone who operated in the grey areas.
I hired Marcus Thorne, a former military intelligence officer turned private investigator. We met in a dimly lit diner three miles from the hospital.
"Your ex-wife was living a double life, David," Marcus said, sliding a thick manila folder across the laminated table. "For the last year, she’s been using a secondary identity—Elena Rostova. She has a bank account in Estonia, a burner phone that pinged in Miami forty-eight hours ago, and a lease on a private marina slip."
I flipped through the photos. There was Sarah, looking glamorous, sitting on a yacht in Miami next to a man with a scarred neck.
"Who is he?" I asked.
"Victor Drago," Marcus replied. "An offshore bookmaker with ties to Eastern European syndicates. He doesn't play. If Sarah owed him money, she didn't just run to save herself—she ran because staying meant she’d end up at the bottom of the ocean."
"And my father?"
"Richard Vance has been using Drago’s network to launder money from his real estate developments. Sarah discovered this during your divorce. She wasn't just paying your father; she was blackmailing him to pay off her debts to Drago. But she flew too close to the sun. Last week, Drago found out she was playing both sides."
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My mind raced. Sarah had left our children locked in that house because she knew Drago’s men were coming for her. She had sacrificed Ethan and Emma to buy herself enough time to disappear.
"We have to find her, Marcus," I said, my voice shaking with a mixture of grief and fury. "Not for her sake. But to clear my name and ensure she never, ever gets near my children again."
