A Woman Worth Billions Dated the Wrong Brother novel Chapter 363

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Keep her safe

Amber POV

Bed rest was torture.

Not because I was uticomfortable.

The bed was enormous, the pillows were perfect, the room had been adjusted to exactly the temperature I liked, and Mrs. Sun had apparently decided that being placed on bed rest meant I needed to be fed every forty-five minutes.

The problem was that everyone had suddenly decided I wasn’t allowed to experience stress.

Especially Jason.

“You’re frowning.”

I didn’t look away from my laptop.

“I’m thinking.”

“You frown when you’re stressed.”

“I also frown when numbers don’t make sense.”

“Which stresses you.”

I finally looked at him.

“Are you going to do this all day?”

“Probably.”

He was sitting beside me with his own laptop, supposedly helping with the investigation.

In reality, he had appointed himself my personal stress monitor.

Unfortunately, he was useful, so I couldn’t kick him out.

Emilia’s information had given us somewhere to start.

Now Jason and I were following the merchandise.

The scheme itself was simple enough.

Asher Corporation purchased expensive, high-quality materials.

The correct products arrived.

Then, somewhere between delivery and actual use, some of those products disappeared and were replaced with cheaper alternatives.

The company records still showed the originals.

Which meant someone was taking the real merchandise.

But there was a problem.

We couldn’t find where it went.

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Jason leaned closer to his screen.

Nothing.”

“Again?”

“Nothing.”

I’d already searched the obvious places.

Online stores.

Resale platforms.

Distributors.

Auction sites.

Bulk liquidators.

Even smaller companies that had suddenly started advertising products suspiciously similar to ours.

Nothing.

There were no significant purchases matching the stolen merchandise.

No obvious resale operation.

No unusual market influx.

It was as though the products simply disappeared.

I leaned against my pillows.

“That leaves two possibilities.”

Jason looked at me.

“Someone already has a buyer.”

“Exactly. An acquaintance. Someone purchasing everything directly and probably paying off the books.”

“No public listings.”

“No digital trail.”

Jason nodded.

“Or?”

“They’re storing it.”

“For what?”

“Inventory.”

He immediately understood.

“A new company.”

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W

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“Or a store.”

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at made considerably more sense than selling everything individually.

If someone had been taking merchandise for eighteen months, they could have accumulated enough inventory to launch an entire business without paying for most of the initial stock.

Jason’s expression hardened.

“Using Asher Corporation to finance their startup.”

“Possibly.” 1

“And replacing everything they steal with garbage.”

“Lower-quality products,” I corrected.

“Garbage.”

I smiled.

“Fine. Garbage.”

My phone vibrated.

Pamela.

I answered.

“Tell me you found something.”

“I found something better.”

I sat straighter.

Jason immediately put his hand on my shoulder.

“Blood pressure.”

I pushed his hand away.

“What?”

Pamela sounded amused.

“I have our excuse for the audit.”

I frowned.

“We already decided we’d make it look routine.”

“This is better.”

She explained what had happened.

Two investors had been riding one of the elevators that morning.

They weren’t discussing anything secret.

Quite the opposite.

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One had apparently mentioned that, considering everything that had happened around me lately, it was probably

me for the investors to see the books properly.

The other agreed.

According to Pamela, his exact concert had been simple: Amber had spent months dealing with outside problems, so she needed to see the real current state of the company.

I smiled.

Jason noticed.

“What?”

I put the call on speaker.

Pamela continued.

“They didn’t know employees were riding behind them.”

“How many?” I asked.

“Four.”

I laughed.

“Perfect.”

Jason understood immediately.

“Employees gossip.”

“Employees breathe gossip,” Pamela corrected.

Apparently, by the time the elevator reached the ground floor, four employees knew investors wanted an audit.

Ten minutes later, at least twenty people knew.

Half an hour later, managers were quietly asking whether anyone had heard something about the investors demanding a review of the company’s finances.

The story was spreading beautifully.

I looked at Jason.

“We don’t even have to manufacture a reason anymore.”

“No.”

The audit wasn’t my idea.

At least, that wasn’t what anyone inside Asher Corporation would believe.

Concerned investors wanted to see the books.

Perfectly reasonable.

Especially considering how much time I’d spent away from the company’s daily operations.

“Do it,” I told Pamela.

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ག

“Already did.”

linked.

“What?”

–

“I formally requested the audit twenty minutes ago.”

Jason laughed.

I smiled.

“I like you.”

“I know.”

“How broad?”

“Financials, procurement, inventory, contracts, suppliers, departmental expenses and quality control.”

Exactly what we needed.

“And how much warning did they get?”

Pamela laughed.

“Almost none.”

That was the best part.

The elevator gossip had spread quickly.

But not quickly enough.

People knew an audit was coming.

They simply didn’t know it was coming now.

By the time the first managers started calling one another, the audit teams were already receiving access authorization.

Records were being locked.

Digital backups were being secured.

Financial databases were being copied.

Inventory checks were being scheduled.

Nobody had enough time to rewrite eighteen months of history.

“Emilia?” I asked.

“Still invisible.”

“Jasper?”

“Watching her.”

Good.

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That mattered,

on’t change anything around her,” I ordered. “She remains an intern. Nobody suddenly gives her special treatment.”

“Understood.”

I ended the call.

Jason looked thoughtful.

“What?”

“The timing.”

“What about it?”

“If someone is storing those products, an audit could scare them.”

I stared at him.

Then smiled.

Jason immediately pointed at me.

“No.”

“What?”

“That’s your dangerous smile.”

“I don’t have a dangerous smile.”

“You absolutely do.”

I ignored him and opened the inventory records again.

“If they have a warehouse somewhere, what happens when they hear auditors are checking inventory?”

Jason slowly smiled too.

“They move the merchandise.”

“Exactly.”

And moving eighteen months’ worth of stolen products was considerably harder than hiding numbers inside a spreadsheet.

Trucks moved.

Warehouses opened.

People made calls.

Security cameras recorded things.

Drivers needed instructions.

Money changed hands.

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I picked up my phone.

Jason took it away.

“Hey!”

“You are on bed rest.”

“I need Jasper.”

“I’ll call Jasper.”

I stared at him.

He stared back.

Apparently, this was the compromise.

“Fine.”

Jason called him.

“Jasper, the audit is starting.”

A pause.

“We think whoever is stealing the merchandise may have been storing it. If they panic and start moving anything, we need to know.”

Another pause.

“No. Emilia doesn’t follow anyone. She stays exactly where she is.”

I smiled.

Jason glanced at me.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

He continued.

“You handle it. Keep her safe and watch the people around that marketing lead.”

He ended the call.

“There.” 1

“You’re surprisingly good at this.”

“At protecting your blood pressure?”

“At corporate espionage.”

“I’m married to you. I’ve adapted and improved my ways.”

I laughed and settled farther into the pillows.

Somewhere inside Asher Corporation, word was spreading that concerned investors had demanded to see the

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company’s real financial condition.

Nobody knew I had been investigating before that elevator conversation ever happened.

Nobody knew Emilia Goodrich had been placed there specifically because I already suspected something.

And nobody knew Jasper Wilson was watching quietly from the shadows.

The people stealing from my company had received a warning.

Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t enough time to hide.

Only enough time to panic.

And panicked people made mistakes.

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Convenient

Jason POV

Apparently, surviving our own version of The Hunger Games wasn’t enough.

Apparently, my pregnant wife being placed on bed rest wasn’t enough either.

Now the Ember Association wanted me in River City,

I stared at the message on my phone.

“No.”

Amber looked up from her laptop.

She was surrounded by pillows, reports, tablets, and enough technology to make the doctor’s definition of bed rest questionable.

“What now?”

“The Ember Association wants me in River City.”

Her expression immediately became serious.

“About your childhood?”

“Apparently.”

This wasn’t the first time we’d investigated what happened to me.

We had already confronted my father.

We’d already demanded the truth.

Or what we’d thought was the truth.

My mother had been Mr. and Mrs. Sun’s daughter.

After she died, my father remarried.

Then Oscar was born.

I was supposedly becoming unruly, and my father claimed he feared I would hurt the newborn.

So he sent me away.

Except we’d eventually discovered that wasn’t what had happened.

The Vincents had wanted me.

They had offered my father money in exchange for me.

When we’d confronted him, Mr. White insisted it hadn’t truly been an offer.

According to him, the Vincents had been forcing him.

Threatening him.

Making it clear that refusing wasn’t really an option.

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Con

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And then we’d learned something even worse.

stepmother hadn’t been the monster everyone thought she was.

She had tried to save me.

For years, I’d believed she was dead.

She wasn’t.

The Vincents had forced her into becoming the wife of an heir from one of the families under their control.

Somehow, despite everything happening to her, she’d managed to make a call.

A call that helped save me.

And she had ultimately lost her life because of it.

That revelation had changed everything I’d believed about her.

It had also made my father’s story seem plausible.

He’d been pressured.

She’d tried to help.

The Vincents had been responsible.

End of story.

Except apparently it wasn’t.

My phone rang.

Alison Sparks.

I answered and put her on speaker.

“What did you find?”

“Enough to know Mr. White didn’t tell you everything.”

My jaw tightened.

Amber closed her laptop.

“What does that mean?”

Alison hesitated.

“We’ve reconstructed more of Jason’s timeline.”

I hated that sentence already.

Amber reached for my hand.

Alison continued.

“We know Jason was taken after his mother died. We know the Vincents were involved. We know his stepmother eventually tried to help him.”

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“Yes.”

But there’s a gap.”

I already knew which one.

The castle.

The photograph.

Amber and me sitting beneath a tree together, eating fruit.

Someone had rescued both of us.

Someone had brought us there.

And then I disappeared again.

Two years after my father originally sent me away, my grandparents found me in a house in the mountains.

By then, I’d lost even the most basic thing a child should have.

My name.

I’d been there long enough, or traumatized badly enough, that Jason had disappeared somewhere inside me.

My grandparents had taken me home.

But we’d never understood how I’d gotten from the castle to that mountain house.

Until now.

“We think Mr. White knew you’d been rescued,” Alison said.

My hand tightened around Amber’s.

“What?”

“We found indications that someone informed him.”

Amber frowned.

“Someone from the Vincent network?”

“Possibly.”

I stood.

Amber immediately tugged me back down.

“You’re supposed to be keeping me calm.”

Right.

I sat.

“What exactly are you saying?”

Alison’s answer came carefully.

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“We think your father may have taken you from the castle himself.”

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Silence.

I stared at the phone.

“No.”

“We don’t have proof yet.”

“My father claimed he didn’t know where I was.”

“We know.”

“He said the Vincents took me.”

“We know.”

“He said they were forcing him.”

“I know what he told you, Jason.”

I laughed without humor.

Amber squeezed my hand.

Alison continued.

“The first part may still be true. The Vincents may have forced him to surrender you initially. Your stepmother’s attempt to rescue you was real.”

“But after I was rescued…”

“Something changed.”

I felt sick.

Amber spoke quietly.

“You think somebody told Mr. White Jason had escaped.

“Yes.”

“And then?”

“We believe it’s possible Mr. White collected Jason himself.”

I stared at nothing.

The mountain house.

The place where I’d lost my name.

My father might not simply have failed to rescue me.

He might have personally taken me there.

“Why?”

“We don’t know.”

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Conveniant

“Money?”

Rossibly.”

“The Vincents?”

“Possibly.”

“Then find him and ask him!”

Silence.

That was when I knew there was another problem.

“Alison?”

“We can’t.”

“Why?”

“Mr. White is gone.”

Amber sat straighter.

“Gone?”

“He abandoned his properties.”

I immediately reached for my laptop.

“What about Oscar?”

Another pause.

“Also gone.”

Of course.

I started searching.

White Corporation records.

Private properties.

Vehicles.

Aircraft.

Hotels.

Credit cards.

Nothing.

My father and Oscar hadn’t simply stopped answering calls.

They had vanished.

But people didn’t vanish.

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“We think your father may have taken you from the castle himself.”

Sdence.

I stared at the phone.

“No.”

“We don’t have proof yet.”

“My father claimed he didn’t know where I was.”

“We know.”

“He said the Vincents took me.”

“We know.”

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“He said they were forcing him.”

“I know what he told you, Jason.”

I laughed without humor.

Amber squeezed my hand.

Alison continued.

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“The first part may still be true. The Vincents may have forced him to surrender you initially. Your stepmother’s attempt to rescue you was real.”

“But after I was rescued…”

“Something changed.”

I felt sick.

Amber spoke quietly.

“You think somebody told Mr. White Jason had escaped.”

“Yes.”

“And then?”

“We believe it’s possible Mr. White collected Jason himself.”

I stared at nothing.

The mountain house.

The place where I’d lost my name.

My father might not simply have failed to rescue me.

He might have personally taken me there.

“Why?”

“We don’t know.”

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“Money?”

Rossibly.”

“The Vincents?”

“Possibly.”

“Then find him and ask him!”

Silence.

That was when I knew there was another problem.

“Alison?”

“We can’t.”

“Why?”

“Mr. White is gone.”

Amber sat straighter.

“Gone?”