Winning My Ex-Crush

Laird’s POV

“Listen, the shell companies belonged to Peter. He had borrowed the names of Alan, Mallory, and other people as the owners of the companies. In exchange for borrowing their names and providing a seemingly legal place to store money, they received some fees.” Mr. Golden started to explain the matter.

“The results from tracing the transactions showed that the shell companies, disguised as investment firms, bought shares to inflate the stock value in the companies. For example, Alan’s company had received a large amount of capital from one of the shell companies.”

“Then Alan’s company would record sales as if they were skyrocketing. After a few months of being held in Alan’s company’s account, the shell company was dissolved and liquidated. With this dissolution, Alan’s company had to return a certain amount of investment plus the promised dividends.”

“Next, they would open a new shell company and carry out the same operational business with another company, for instance, Mallory’s company. Thus, Peter’s money continually circulated in that loop. Whenever he needed it, he would take it.”

“Question!” Jessy raised her hand loudly.

“Yes, Jessy.”

“Why did he need to create shell companies like that? Why not just keep the money in various banks?” Jessy asked.

“The reason was simple: money. Banking required a significant cost. Moreover, many financial regulators would scrutinize large international financial transactions. By keeping it in business form, transactions would be considered legitimate as investments, and any returns would be seen as reasonable.”

“So, Alan’s company was fake? It didn’t really have many customers? It just ran promotions and sold their big names so people would overlook the large money flow.” Fenella also raised her hand.

“Yes. This included stores or companies of designers or artists. Peter deliberately included them so that the value of the designers’ brands could not be precisely assessed. In return, the celebrities received fame as if their products were in high demand and worth more than competitors.” Mr. Golden nodded.

“What about the charity foundations? They were supposed to be non-profit organizations.” Jessy raised his hand again, alternating with Fenella.Exclusive content from NôvelDrama.Org.

“Charity foundations were even easier for money transfers because they could be recorded as anonymous donors or street donors. Donations could not be recorded in detail and could be easily deducted as operational costs. However, they can’t put too much to it, as it would be suspicious given the non-profit nature of the charity foundation.”

“Oh, this is so messed up. No wonder Amy had been begging for money from a company like Alan’s.” Fenella ran her fingers through her hair to the nape of her neck and then nervously massaged it.

“Was Gene one of the companies receiving money from Peter?” Jessy asked again with a choking voice.

“Yes. All of Alan’s companies had received that illegal money. The investors had various shell company names, but at least Alan alone had received a total of a billion dollars. Mallory had received a billion dollars, Oscar de Ragetti half a billion dollars, and various other celebrities involved.”

“Oh, God. My head started spinning just thinking about it.” Jessy rubbed both sides of his temple.

“Ugh, this meant Gene would indeed be shut down if Alan was arrested.” Fenella bit her lower lip and exchanged glances with Jessy. They then held hands tightly and squeezed each other’s hands.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is the estimated total amount of money Peter has in circulation currently?” I asked the prosecutor.

“From the phone data and financial transactions, it was estimated to be around 8 billion dollars.”

Matthew whistled upon hearing that fantastic number. “Has there been any record of where he had spent his money when liquidating it?”

“Mostly on weapons, dealings with the mafia, and women. This was a major case, so I was sure there would be more network points to be captured. The FBI was still tracing everyone considered involved with Peter, including other high American officials.”

“Wait a minute! Women? What did you mean by women?” Fenella suddenly asked in high pitch.

“Peter had several mistresses. Each had an extraordinarily high lifestyle and used his money to buy items from designers of Peter’s choice.” The old man answered with a shrug.

“Ah, genius. Peter kept women, who were then directed to spend all the money he gave them on his affiliated companies. The women would receive designer items to showcase, while Peter’s money would come back to him through sales.” Matthew stroked his palms together with enthusiasm.

“Oh, shit. This is all crap.” Fenella cursed. She whined with her hand, hugging the sofa pillow.

“Well then, you have gathered all the evidence. What are you waiting for?” I asked with a shrug.

“Confession,” he answered briefly with narrowed eyes.

“Is it important?” Jessy asked with a frown.

“It’s crucial. Until now, all evidence had been obtained through your hands. We could have said this was an anonymous tip, but I was sure Peter’s lawyer would not let it slide. We needed undeniable evidence.”

“Oh, I know! I had just bought a device from a friend. I was sure I could extract a confession from Peter.” Matthew’s eyes gleamed brightly with his hand raised in the air.

“No torture or anything like that. A major case like this would attract media attention, and their lawyers would surely keep an eye on them. The only way was to obtain a recorded confession before they were arrested.”

“So, what do you mean?”

I raised one eyebrow and suspected that what I was thinking was the same as what the prosecutor was thinking.

“We needed to lure a confession from them,” the prosecutor answered firmly, as if everyone already knew the answer.

“Whoa, whoa, hold up. Are you asking us to do your dirty work again?” I asked with a furrowed brow. My hand raised low in the air as a sign for the old man to stop his crazy idea.

“Hey, what’s the big deal? You were the ones who offered access to information from inside their circle. Now that you are in the circle, the only thing left is to extract a confession from them.” He raised his voice.

My back suddenly felt hot, and my heart pounded as I anticipated what we had to do to get the confession that he wanted. I then stood up from the sofa to restrain the old man’s wild imagination.

“This is beyond our limits, Mr. Golden. Stealing information discreetly is one thing, but confronting and even extracting their confession is another. We didn’t have the capacity for that without ensuring our safety. Especially Fenella, who was directly involved in the circle. It was too dangerous.” I protested.

“There would be nothing too dangerous. All we had to do was attach a voice recorder to Fenella’s necklace, make them confess that all the money was illegal, record their voices in our machine, and voila, you would become the heroes.”

“This isn’t about being heroes, but about life safety.”

I growled and glared at the man fiercely. Seeing my antipathy, Malcolm Golden stood up from his sofa as well. He challenged my gaze with his cold eyes.

“The FBI teams will be mobilized for that, so you didn’t need to worry. I was sure she could do it well. No one could be as close to them in such a short time except her.”

“You and your FBI are useless. You wouldn’t be able to protect Fenella from Peter. He’s dangerous, for God’s sake!” I still rejected his idea.

“I’ll do it.”

Fenella’s voice sounded sharp to my ears. Everyone in the living room immediately turned to look at Fenella, who was now staring at me with a determined look.