The Trophy Wife's Secret Chapter 2

"Interpol can't help you catch a physical burglar."

I stopped walking, but I didn't turn around.

The home office plunged into a dead silence once again.

I could physically feel the piercing, irritated glares burning into my back.

"Maya, just let it go."

Liam jogged over, lowering his voice to a frantic whisper.

"Arthur is a massive egomaniac. Just don't provoke him. Ethan is already stressed out of his mind."

I turned around, looking directly at Liam.

"I'm being completely serious. Hunting for corporate spies is a massive waste of time."

Arthur slammed his laser pointer down onto the mahogany desk. The sharp crack echoed in the room.

"Is Mrs. Vanderbilt attempting to dictate my operational strategy?"

He stood up and closed the distance between us.

He was a full head taller than me, intentionally using his height to project a condescending, physical authority.

"When I was building the digital perimeter for the Munich headquarters, Mrs. Vanderbilt, you were likely busy selecting the color of your latest designer handbag."

"Enterprise security is an airtight, flawless loop of logic. It is not the amateur game of make-believe you seem to think it is."

I stared at his tie clip. It was slightly crooked, and the engraved pattern was asymmetrical.

My OCD was making my skin crawl.

"An airtight loop of logic doesn't stop a crowbar."

Jax pulled one of his headphones off his ear.

"Mrs. Vanderbilt, are you even aware that there is an interlocking grid of twelve infrared laser sensors outside the vault doors?"

"Even if someone managed to walk in holding a crowbar, how exactly did they bypass a 360-degree, blind-spot-free scanning grid?"

"Did they wear an invisibility cloak?"

His tone was dripping with absolute, insufferable sarcasm.

"Not an invisibility cloak."

I looked at him calmly.

"Refraction."

"If you position a high-frequency reflective mirror at the exact diagonal intersection of the infrared grid, you can artificially generate a three-second visual blind spot."

The office went completely silent.

Ethan looked up, his dark eyes locking onto me with intense scrutiny.

It was as if he was desperately trying to find a crack in my facade.

Arthur froze for a second, then let out a sharp, dismissive laugh.

"Absolutely absurd."

"The spectral frequency of the infrared grid utilizes a randomized, rolling encryption algorithm. A standard mirror cannot refract it."

"Unless the infiltrator possessed the exact algorithmic sequence in advance."

"And the only two people on earth who possess that sequence are Jax and myself."

He threw his hands up, looking at Ethan.

"Mr. Vanderbilt, is your wife officially accusing Jax and me of orchestrating an inside job?"

Ethan aggressively rubbed his temples.

"Maya, please. Stop."

My mother-in-law quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the office.

"Sweetheart, why are you being so incredibly stubborn today?"

"If the ruby is gone, the family will just pay the penalty. Do you really think we'd ever cut your shopping allowance?"

She fussed over me, gently tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

"Your father-in-law is already liquidating assets in Europe."

"If worst comes to worst, we'll just sell the two commercial lots on the East Side."

I looked at her exhausted face, knowing she was desperately trying to remain optimistic just to comfort me.

My chest felt tight.

The Vanderbilt family was genuinely full of good people.

They never judged me for being "useless." They just treated me like a fragile porcelain doll that needed to be protected at all costs.

But a $500 million penalty wasn't something you could just magically fix by selling a couple of empty lots.

I went back to my bedroom and lay on the mattress.

I couldn't sleep.

In my past life, I had survived dozens of lethal security vaults and navigated the most cutthroat betrayals in the criminal underworld.

In this life, I just wanted to relax.

But that didn't mean I was going to sit back and watch some amateur smash my comfortable life to pieces.

The antique clock on the nightstand ticked rhythmically.

Time was bleeding away.

Outside in the hallway, I could hear chaotic, rushed footsteps and muffled arguments.

At 8:00 PM.

Exactly fourteen hours before the deadline.

Liam frantically pounded on my bedroom door.

"Maya, we have a massive problem."

His face was the color of chalk.

"Jax managed to recover a fragment of deleted security footage from the server."

"It caught a brief glimpse of the thief's back."

I sat up.

"And?"

"The guy was wearing the uniform of a Vanderbilt senior executive."

Liam swallowed hard, looking terrified.

"And... he used your security badge to open the door."