The thirty-million-dollar settlement Vance had offered suddenly made perfect sense.

Preston wasn’t just trying to hide his recent corporate fraud.

He was trying to bury the original theft that created Hayes Enterprises.

If the board found out the foundation of the company was stolen, the stock would crash.

The entire board would turn on him, and the regulators would dismantle his life.

“What do we do, Mom?” Mia asked, looking up at me for answers.

I stood up, holding the patent documents tightly against my chest.

“We are going to finish packing,” I said.

“And then we are going to see Daniel at the Plaza.”

“Daniel?” Mia asked. “The hotel manager?”

“He has connections,” I said.

“He knows people who can verify these documents without Preston finding out.”

I walked over to the desk to grab my purse.

As I reached for it, my phone buzzed on the mahogany desktop.

The screen lit up with a text message from an unknown number.

I picked it up and swiped the screen.

It was a photograph.

The photo showed Daniel Price standing in the alley behind the Plaza Hotel.