Chapter 3 - The Shadow Investor
The blackmail threat changed the nature of the game entirely. Sebastian didn't panic; he retaliated. He immediately placed Rosa under his personal protection, moving her from her modest neighborhood into a secured suite at the Drake Hotel, accompanied by two of Marcus's top operatives.
"You're in danger now because you helped me," Sebastian told Rosa inside the tinted windows of his armored SUV. "I don't abandon people who step into the fire for my family."
"I don't need luxury, Mr. Harlow," Rosa said quietly, looking out at the rain-streaked streets of Chicago. "I just need to know that the people who put those things in the wall pay for it."
"They will," Sebastian promised, his voice dripping with ice.
Marcus spent the night cracking the power signature of the headboard camera. The device hadn't been installed by a break-in; the access codes used to enter the penthouse during the installation window belonged to a high-ranking executive within Victoria Kline’s own inner circle—her family's long-time financial manager, Arthur Vance (no relation to Marcus).
Victoria herself had just landed in Chicago from New York. When Sebastian met her in the private hangar, her eyes were wide with shock as he laid out the evidence Rosa had uncovered.
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"Arthur?" Victoria whispered, her hands shaking as she held the photo of the concealed lens. "He’s been like an uncle to me since my father died. Why would he do this?"
"Because Arthur isn't working for himself," Sebastian said, holding her hands tightly. "He's working for a New York crime syndicate operating under the guise of an offshore investment firm. They don't just want money, Victoria. They want complete control over your family's assets—and they thought they could break us using shame and surveillance."
