Chapter 10 - Victor Hale Was Not the Person Dustin Feared MostThe shipping employee’s name was Marcus Vale.
Federal agents detained him after identifying false information on his employment application.
He cooperated quickly.
Too quickly.
Marcus admitted swapping Marcy’s drive.
But Victor Hale had not hired him to do it.
Evan had.
Personally.
Then investigators recovered encrypted messages from Evan’s cloud account.
The messages were with Dustin.
Three months before Marcy’s assault.
Evan: Uncle’s accountant found discrepancies.
Dustin: How much does he know?
Evan: Enough that we need the books cleaned.
Another:
Dustin: Marcy asks too many questions.
Evan: Then get her out of accounting.
Dustin: Can’t. Uncle likes her work.
Then:
Evan: If she copies anything, we both go down before he does.**
That was clue one.
Clue two:
Dustin was planning an international escape before the assault.
Clue three:
The suspicious money in Marcy’s files flowed heavily through Dustin and Evan rather than solely toward Victor.
The major twist was this:
Dustin had spent months telling Marcy that Uncle Victor would kill her family if she left.
But those threats were largely a weapon.
Dustin wanted Marcy terrified of Victor because fear of a powerful crime boss kept her from looking closely at Dustin himself.
Victor was dangerous.
His companies were legitimately under investigation.
But Dustin exaggerated his uncle’s willingness to attack Marcy’s family because it made the lie believable.
The person Dustin truly feared was Victor.
Not because Victor was protecting him.
Because Victor was beginning to suspect his nephew and son had stolen millions from the organization.
Evan intercepted Marcy’s federal package because her documents could expose their theft before they escaped.
Dustin assaulted Marcy because he needed the backup location and password.
His repeated question—
Where’s the second copy?
—had nothing to do with preserving his uncle’s empire.
It was about saving himself from both federal investigators and Victor.
Then came the worst message.
Two days before Marcy’s assault:
Dustin: Once I get the backup location, I’m done with her.
Evan: Make sure she thinks Uncle is the threat.
Dustin: She already does.**
Marcy read that sentence in Agent Pierce’s office.
She started crying.
Not because Dustin deceived her about being violent.
She knew that.
Because for almost a year, she had organized her entire fear around the wrong man.
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Every time she stayed with Dustin to protect us, she had actually been protecting Dustin.
He had turned her love for her family into the lock on her own cage.
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