“I thought you said self-dealing isn’t criminal.” I glanced between Fiona and Greg.
“I’m not a lawyer. I only know what I’ve read in the news about CEOs and self-dealing, but in some cases it can be,” Greg explained gently.
“Like insider trading?” Alex asked.
“Actually, no. In the US, insider trading—where a company’s officers and directors buy or sell stock with insider knowledge—isn’t illegal as long as they follow reporting rules to the SEC. But in all cases, if shareholders are impacted by the self-dealing, the shareholders can file a lawsuit. You could threaten a shareholder lawsuit for fraud as leverage, to force him to release Dan unharmed. He’d definitely be fired as CEO of Caravel.”
“What if we did both?” Fiona looked to me. “What if you approach Caleb and threaten a lawsuit, which would force him to back off, and also pay the ransom? Seamus should be happy with the payout, and Caleb’s hands will be tied.”
“I can send Caleb images of the bank statements.” Alex turned to me. “You don’t even have to talk to him.”
“So we blackmail Caleb and bribe Seamus in order to force them to release someone they’re holding hostage. Great.” Quinn’s voice held not a small amount of sarcasm. “This is so fucking backwards.”
“Three million dollars.” Greg’s statement brought my gaze to him. “Do you have three million in liquid assets on hand?”
I nodded. “Yes. I have more than that locally. I’ve already called my banker and told him to prepare the wire transfer. He has the account number, he just needs me to make the call.”
Fiona looked at Alex, Alex looked at Greg, Greg looked at Quinn.
And Quinn looked at me. “I’ll go in with a team,” he offered. “We know where he is, I can get him out.”
I shook my head before he’d finished speaking. “No. Absolutely not. You and Janie just had a baby. Think of Desmond. And, I’m sorry, but I can’t take the risk that Dan would get shot or killed or—” my voice failed me again and I choked on a sob, covering my mouth with my hand as the worst-case scenario flashed vividly through my mind.
Alex turned me to him, wrapping me in a tight hug. Perhaps I was beyond caring; or perhaps I was losing my mind; or perhaps being with Dan over these last weeks had fundamentally changed me, because I held on to Alex.
My instinct wasn’t to shrink from his support, but rather to cling to it.
Alex sent Caleb the images along with a message demanding that he release Dan or else the board would find out about his self-dealing.
I called my banker and had the three million dollars transferred.
Fiona, using my phone, messaged the kidnappers and let them know the money had been sent.
Alex rigged a device to my cell so that any call received would be recorded and traced.
Nico ordered room service for everyone and handed me a plate of cheese when it arrived. <3 Nico <3
And then we waited.
We waited in near silence.
It was very weird.
Some of us knit. Some of us held babies. Some of us changed baby diapers. Picking up on the mood, Wally did a lot of huffing and pacing. Alex and Drew took Wally on a walk. Lots of people gave me hugs. I couldn’t stop imagining the worst. No matter what I did or how I endeavored to distract myself, my brain kept going back there, showing me images of everything that could possibly go wrong.
And then, almost five hours after Alex had sent the images to Caleb, my cousin called me. Taking a deep breath, I accepted the call, putting him on speaker so everyone could hear.
“You think you’re very clever.”
I hadn’t spoken more than ten words directly to Caleb in over three years. My instinct was to stay silent. But I couldn’t. Not this time.
“Why are you calling me?” I asked.
“You know why.” He was being evasive, vague, which was extremely out of character for my cousin. I assumed that meant he knew he was being recorded.
“Are you calling to negotiate?” I asked.
“Have you made the payment?”
That gave me pause. I looked at Quinn and Fiona; they were also confused.
“Didn’t you receive my text message?” I asked, and then promptly muted our side of the call, whispering to the group, “Why doesn’t Caleb know I’ve made the ransom payment? If he and Seamus are working together, wouldn’t he already know?”
Quinn’s phone buzzed and, dazed, he pulled it out of his pocket, frowning at his screen. He flinched back, like he was surprised, and huffed a laugh, muttering, “Unfuckingbelievable.”
Meanwhile, Caleb was monologuing. “You sent no text. Stalling and lying will not yield the results you want, nor will your attempts at blackmail. Where are you going to tell people you found these documents? How are you going to explain accessing protected information? You can’t. Being in possession of these documents means you’ve done something illegal. These are inadmissible because they were obtained illegally, you stupid cunt.” His voice became a shout, “Soon you’ll be locked up, where you belong. I’m calling your bluff. I’m—”