Chapter 10 - Adrian Shaw
For the first time, Natalie looked frightened.
Adrian Shaw had recruited her directly out of graduate school.
He knew who her mother was.
He told her that was why he hired her—because Mara had once raised legitimate concerns that others ignored.
Natalie had considered it respect.
Now it looked different.
Adrian’s firm built the synthetic voice models.
Adrian had access to Ethan’s samples.
Adrian’s investigators accessed old corporate archives.
Adrian knew the home-device compromises.
He could have created everything.
Police obtained warrants.
What they found seemed conclusive.
Copies of old Aster Row records.
Mara’s emails.
Audio samples.
A photograph of Emma outside the medical clinic.
The same photograph Eleanor received.
Emma felt almost disappointed by how cleanly the pieces aligned.
Then Adrian returned from a business trip voluntarily.
He looked at the evidence and said:
“You found the trap.”
Not “you found me.”
The trap.
Adrian admitted collecting the records.
He admitted photographing Emma.
Why?
Because he had suspected someone inside his own company.
The photograph was surveillance of Robert Vale, not Emma. Robert’s cardiology appointment happened to place him behind her.
Adrian never sent it to Eleanor.
Someone stole it from his case archive.
Access logs confirmed unauthorized download.
From Natalie’s credentials.
Natalie denied it.
Could her credentials have been cloned too?
Yes.
But investigators refused to assume.
Then came the most damaging discovery.
The LILY_TEST folder had been created from Natalie’s workstation.
She had been working the nights corresponding to several uploads.
Emma turned on her.
“You said you didn't know.”
“I didn’t.”
“Your computer did.”
Natalie began to cry from frustration.
Adrian watched her carefully.
Then asked investigators to check one thing.
Natalie used accessibility software that automatically created local audio waveforms when she analyzed recordings.
On the nights LILY_TEST files were uploaded, no corresponding local waveforms existed.
Her workstation credentials had been used remotely.
Someone was impersonating Natalie too.
Again.
Always another mask.
Emma slammed her palm onto the table.
“Then stop telling me who didn’t do it. Tell me who can.”
Adrian answered.
“Someone with access above mine.”
His company had one silent investor with infrastructure privileges through a holding group.
The investor rarely intervened operationally.
Name:
Mercer Strategic Holdings.
Caroline.
Emma stared.
Caroline appeared genuinely bewildered.
She owned no such company.
Records showed otherwise.
The corporation had been registered twelve years earlier using her name and Social Security information.
Identity theft.
The mailing address?
Crescent House.
The pattern became clearer.
Someone had been constructing false identities for years.
Long before modern AI.
Technology had simply made the deception more convincing.
But why Caroline?
Because she was close to Mara.
Why Ethan?
Because his name controlled Aster Row.
Why Robert?
Because his father handled the accounts.
Why Natalie?
Because her expertise made her the perfect future suspect.
These people had not been chosen randomly.
They were pieces placed years in advance.
Then Adrian produced his private investigation notes.
He had narrowed the fraud to someone who repeatedly appeared near every generation of the scheme without technically controlling anything.
A person who handled family logistics.
Property access.
School recommendations.
Medical appointments.
Vendor introductions.
Someone trusted because their role never looked important enough to examine.
Emma read the name.
Then looked up.
“No.”
Ethan read it next.
His face went pale.
May you like
The person Adrian suspected was Susan Bell.
Emma’s mother.
