Chapter 119
Chapter 149
Mimi’s POV
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Mimi sat in Dante’s apartment nursing a cup of coffee that had gone cold an hour ago. The TV was muted but still playing news coverage of Marcus’s scandal, the same blurred screenshots cycling through every few
minutes.
Dante paced the length of his living room for what must have been the hundredth time, his phone pressed to his ear. He’d been making calls since he got back from the penthouse, reaching out to contacts, pulling in favors, trying to find something they could use.
“I don’t care what time it is in London,” Dante said into the phone. “I need those records by tomorrow morning… Yes, I understand it’s a holiday… Double your usual fee then.”
He hung up and immediately dialed another number.
Mimi watched him work, impressed despite the circumstances. This was a side of Dante she’d only glimpsed before. The lawyer who’d built his career on being smarter and more ruthless than everyone else in the room.
“Anything?” she asked when he finally set the phone down.
“Maybe. I have someone pulling Penelope’s offshore account records. I should have them by morning.”
“You think there’s something there?”
“I know there is. I’ve been investigating Penelope for months. Ever since the investor meeting sabotage. Something about her story has never added up.”
Mimi set down her coffee cup. “What do you mean?”
Dante walked to his desk and pulled out a thick folder. “Penelope married Marcus’s father twelve years ago. She was thirty-eight, he was sixty-two. Everyone assumed she was a gold digger who got lucky.”
“Wasn’t she?”
“Probably. But here’s the thing. Before she married into the Thorne family, Penelope was broke. Not just regular broke, but drowning in debt. Credit cards maxed out, medical bills in collections, eviction notices.”
“So she found a rich man to save her. Tale as old as time.”
“Except the timing doesn’t work.” Dante opened the folder and spread documents across his desk. “Penelope’s debts were paid off three months before she even met Marcus’s father. Someone gave her a substantial amount of money right before she entered their lives.”
Mimi stood and walked to the desk, looking at the bank statements Dante was pointing to. “How much money?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars. Deposited in cash over the course of two weeks. Then another hundred thousand a month later.”
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“Where did it come from?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. The deposits were made at different branches, always just under the reporting threshold. Whoever gave her the money knew how to avoid triggering automatic investigations.”
Mimi picked up one of the bank statements. “You think someone paid her to marry Marcus’s father?”
“I think someone paid her to get close to the Thorne family. Whether that was specifically to marry the father or just to gain access, I don’t know yet.”
“But who would do that? And why?”
Dante pulled out another file. “That’s where it gets interesting. I started looking into Penelope’s background before she came to New York. Her employment history, her social connections, places she lived.”
“And?”
“And I found a gap. Two years where there’s no record of her anywhere. No tax returns, no employment, no lease agreements, nothing. It’s like she just disappeared.”
Mimi felt a chill run down her spine. “People don’t just disappear for two years.”
“No, they don’t. Unless they’re hiding from something. Or someone.”
Dante’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it and his expression shifted. “This is the contact in London. Hold on.”
He answered and spent the next five minutes listening, occasionally asking questions in a tone that got progressively more intense. When he hung up, he looked shaken.
“What?” Mimi demanded.
“The offshore accounts. They trace back to a company called Meridian Holdings. Registered in the Cayman Islands fifteen years ago.”
“Fifteen years? But Penelope didn’t marry into the family until twelve years ago.”
“Exactly. She’s been connected to this money stream for longer than we thought. And Meridian Holdings has been making regular payments to her the entire time. Not huge amounts, but consistent. Like a salary.”
“A salary for what?”
“That’s the question.” Dante turned to his computer and started typing. “Let me see what else I can find about Meridian Holdings.”
While he worked, Mimi picked up her own phone and started searching for anything she could find about Penelope’s past. Social media, old articles, anything that might fill in those missing two years.
She found a mention in an old society column from fifteen years ago. A charity gala in the Hamptons. The photo showed a younger Penelope in an expensive dress, standing next to a man Mimi didn’t recognize.
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Chapter 149
“Dante, look at this.”
He glanced over. “Who’s the man?”
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“I don’t know. But the caption says ‘Penelope Welson with a companion.’ Ashford. That was her maiden name, right?”
“Yeah. Before she became Penelope Thorne.” Dante squinted at the photo. “Run a reverse image search. See if we can identify him.”
Mimi did. The results came back with several hits, all from around the same time period. The man’s name was Richard Castellanos. Wealthy investor, known for high-risk ventures and questionable business practices.
“Richard Castellanos,” Mimi read. “Died in 2018. Made his fortune in real estate and private equity. Was under investigation by the SEC for fraud when he died.”
Dante’s typing got faster. “Castellanos. That name sounds familiar.”
“Should it?”
“Give me a minute.” He pulled up another database, cross-referencing names. His face went pale. “Oh shit.”
“What?”
“Richard Castellanos was a major shareholder in Thorne Dynamics. He sold his shares ten years ago, right around the time Penelope married Marcus’s father.”
Mimi felt pieces clicking into place. “So Castellanos knew Penelope. Castellanos was connected to Thorne Dynamics. And around the same time he sold his shares, Penelope married into the family?”
“It could be a coincidence.”
“You don’t believe in coincidence.”
“No, I don’t.” Dante pulled up another search. “Let me look into Castellanos’s business dealings from fifteen years ago. See what he was involved in.”
Mimi went back to searching for Penelope’s missing years. She found an old blog post, barely readable on an archived website. Someone’s personal account of working at a private hospital in Connecticut.
The post mentioned a patient named Penelope who’d been admitted after a car accident. The blogger didn’t give a last name, but described the woman as “beautiful but cold, like she was running from something.”
The date of the post was from fifteen years ago. Right in the middle of Penelope’s missing years.
“Dante, I found something. Penelope might have been in a car accident fifteen years ago. She was hospitalized in Connecticut.”
Dante stopped typing. “A car accident?”
“That’s what this blog says. Why?”
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“Because I just found a police report from fifteen years ago. Hit and run in Manhattan. The driver fled the scene.” He turned his monitor so Mimi could see. “The victim’s name was Catherine Thorne.”
Mimi’s blood ran cold. “Marcus’s mother.”
“Marcus’s mother died in a hit and run accident fifteen years ago. The driver was never found. The case went cold.” Dante’s hands were shaking as he scrolled through the report. “But according to this, there was a witness who described the car. A silver Mercedes. License plate partially obscured but they got a few numbers.”
He opened another window and started searching DMV records.
Mimi watched the screen, her heart pounding.
Dante pulled up a registration from fifteen years ago. The car was a silver Mercedes. Registered to Richard Castellanos.
But the insurance paperwork listed an additional driver authorized to use the vehicle.
Penelope Welson.
Dante sat back in his chair, his face ashen. “The car that killed Marcus’s mother belonged to Penelope.”
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