After shrugging out of my jacket and rolling up the sleeves of my white shirt, I log into the computer and open up the ledgers. It’s routine work that will keep me busy for most of the morning, tracking the legitimate investments aswell as the illegal ones hidden beneath layers of fake transactions, ghost companies, and offshore accounts.
This firm is one of the reasons my family is able to fly under the radar despite all of our illegal dealings. But in order to keep things running smoothly, it’s my job to keep track of every single payment that moves in and out of this company.
“What the…”
There are a series of encrypted payments inside a random folder, all without any notes or a paper trail, which is unusual.
I scroll through the transactions again, frowning as I try to decode them.
None of the other accounts are encoded like this. No matter how small and insignificant the payment, my father always made sure there was a log. But with these particular payments, there’s nothing but strings of encrypted metadata and outgoing funds to dead-end shell companies in Eastern Europe.
I lean back as my heart starts to pound.
Why the hell are these transactions encrypted? There’s no way my father didn’t know about them, so why would he want to keep them hidden, even from the family?
From the sick feeling in my stomach, I’m almost certain that they have something to do with his death.
I pull out my phone and dial Connell Sachsman, one of the best tech guys on my staff.
He’s a former hacker who Kieran managed to bribe to join the dark side five years ago, and he’s become invaluable to us. The guy is only in his mid-twenties, but he’s a genius with a laptop, so hopefully he’ll be able to find out what the hell is going on with these transactions.
Thankfully, he picks up on the third ring.
“Boss?”
“I’m sending you something now that I need you to lookinto.” I put the call on speaker and copy the folder into an email.
“What is it?”
“A series of encrypted transactions.” I hit send. “I need to know who the hell this money was sent to.” I run a hand through my hair as I wait for him to take a quick look.
His answering low whistle makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“How bad is it?”
“This shit looks military-grade. Who the hell encoded this?”
“That’s what I’m paying you to find out.”
“Do you think this is related to…” He doesn’t finish his sentence, but I know exactly where his thoughts are going, because mine are already there.
“I don’t know, and I don’t like not knowing. Call me the second you have anything, no matter what time.”
“Got it.”
Once the timehits five p.m., I leave the office and drive out to Kieran’s place over in Central Park West, where all three of my brothers are already waiting to have a family meeting.
The fact that Cormac is willingly in Kieran’s presence without me playing buffer only reminds me I have something else to add to my long list of problems to fix. The way the pair of them have acted toward each other since the funeral, it’s hard to believe they’re anything other than strangers.
If our father could see them now, he’d be disappointed.
All I can hope is that I get there before all hell breaks loose.
I park my car in the underground garage of Kieran’s building, rolling my eyes at the extensive collection of luxuryvehicles he owns. I swear, if these encrypted transactions turn out to be Kieran’s way of secretly buying shit, I’m going to kill him.
While I ride the elevator up to the penthouse, I quickly check my messages to see if there’s anything from Ciara, but of course, there’s nothing but radio silence. I’m a little disappointed she’s not being more of a pain in my ass, if only to keep me amused during my long workday.
I wonder what’s keeping her so occupied…
