Marcus could argue I had financial motives.
My mouth went dry.
“He framed me.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“He tried.”
I remembered Gavin planting the files.
“Gavin.”
Everyone turned.
“Marcus used Gavin.”
Richard frowned.
“How?”
Gavin had financial problems.
Everybody knew about his expensive divorce.
His failed restaurant investment.
His tendency to gamble on business ventures he couldn’t afford.
What if Marcus had paid him?
The answer arrived faster than expected.
Bank records showed Gavin had received $300,000 through a consulting company linked to Vale Development.
Gavin finally confessed.
He had been instructed to copy acquisition documents onto my laptop.
He believed the goal was corporate leverage.
He claimed he knew nothing about Eleanor’s medical episode.
Whether that was completely true would be decided elsewhere.
But one fact became clear.
Marcus had spent months constructing a trap.
A trap that required two things.
Eleanor needed to appear vulnerable.
And I needed to look guilty.
