Colton Baby Conspiracy. Marie Ferrarella

without a single syllable even partially emerging when he saw who was approaching him.

      “For you, always,” the tall, thin man told her. Rather than just paying lip service for the effect it had, she knew Daniel truly meant what he had just said. He felt boundless loyalty to the family that had taken a wet-behind-the-ears computer science graduate and placed him in a department where he worked in positions of respect and power, something he had never experienced before.

      In return, Daniel had gone to great lengths to show them that he was worthy of the faith and trust they had placed in him. Even so, he never took anything for granted. She knew for a fact that there were a lot of other people in his graduating class who were still struggling to pay off their school loans, while he was able to move around completely debt free because the Coltons had been willing to take a chance on him.

      “Something’s come up,” Marlowe began, trying to find just the right words to use in order to present and explain the dilemma that they all—especially Ace—found themselves currently facing.

      “Please, have a seat,” Daniel said, gesturing toward a chair that was facing his desk.

      At first, Marlowe looked almost hesitant to sit down. But then she finally did, sinking into the chair almost in slow motion.

      “Go on,” he urged.

      After a beat, Marlowe took a deep breath. “Maybe it would be easier if I just showed you, Daniel,” she said, because saying the words just might have made her choke, she thought.

      “Whatever works for you,” Daniel responded amicably. He waited for Marlowe to make the next move or say the next thing.

      He watched in silence as Marlowe dug into her skirt pocket and pulled out her phone.

      Marlowe forwarded the anonymous email and looked at the explosive piece on the screen in front of Daniel.

      “This was sent to all six board members a few hours ago,” she told the IT director. At least she assumed that was the timeline, although for all she knew, her father had been aware of this email’s contents longer than that. She had no idea how she knew, but she just had a feeling.

      She fell silent as she allowed Daniel several seconds to read the words.

      Once he had finished reading and then rereading the email, Daniel raised his eyes to meet hers. “Is this on the level?”

      “Whoever sent it seems to think so,” she answered grimly.

      “Do you know who sent it?” Daniel asked next.

      Marlowe shook her head. “No. That’s where you come in, Daniel,” she told him. “I was hoping that you could track down whoever sent this to the board and find him for me.”

      “You said him—we’re sure it’s a he?” Daniel questioned.

      Sighing, she shook her head again. “Daniel, at this point we’re not sure of anything.”

      “Okay,” Daniel said, taking the information in stride. He approached the problem from another direction. “You said this just came in?”

      This time Marlowe nodded. “From all indications, late this afternoon. My father was the one who notified me,” she added. “Do you think you’ll be able to track this email back to its source and find out who sent this abomination out?”

      “And you have no idea who might have sent it?” he questioned.

      “Not even a clue,” she answered him flatly. “Daniel, it’s extremely important that you get us a name as fast as possible. This needs to be nipped in the bud before it somehow gets leaked to the press.” She caught herself gripping the armrests and forced herself to make her hands go lax. “I don’t have to tell you that we don’t need that sort of publicity getting out.”

      Daniel nodded, his unruly dark brown hair falling into his eyes. He combed his fingers through it, absently brushing it aside from his black-framed glasses. His attention was completely focused on his boss. “Understood,” he replied.

      She was struggling to project the picture of confidence, but at the moment, given everything that had toppled down onto her shoulders, that was definitely not easy.

      “Do you think you can do it, Daniel?” she pressed.

      “I can certainly try,” he answered cautiously. She knew he didn’t like making promises unless he was 100 percent certain that he could successfully deliver.

      “But can you do it?” Marlowe asked again, needing an affirmative promise from him. “You’re the best in the business, Daniel, and if you can’t do this...” A note of hopelessness filtered through her voice as it trailed off.

      “Ms. Colton, you have to understand that a search for something this heinous could very well involve the dark web, and that’s a great deal trickier to navigate than the regular web. They don’t call it the dark web just to create an aura of mystery. The transactions carried out on this part of the internet are way more difficult to pin down. I would be remiss if I wasn’t being honest with you, Ms. Colton,” he confided. “The truth of it is that you might never find out who sent this email.”

      “But you will try to, right?” She was aware that she was practically imploring Daniel at this point.

      “That goes without saying, Ms. Colton,” he told her. “I will use every trick in the book and lean on everyone I know to help me uncover just who sent out this piece of unfounded propaganda.”

      She knew he was doing his best to comfort her, but she had one more request. “Can you do all that without telling them why?”

      Daniel smiled at her. “The people I deal with are accustomed to these sorts of nefarious transactions. Don’t worry, Ms. Colton. If it can be done, I’ll do it,” he promised, “and no one will be the wiser.”

      “That’s good enough for me,” she told him, rising to her feet. “And when you do find out, call me, Daniel. Night or day, call me,” she repeated.

      “I’ll be sure to do that, Ms. Colton,” he promised solemnly.

       Chapter 5

      Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned, Marlowe thought as she left the IT director’s office.

      She supposed that part of her disappointment was tied to the fact that she had begun to expect nothing short of miracles from Daniel. Marlowe had always had a great deal of respect for the man’s abilities. The problem was that she had gotten those impressive abilities confused with his ability to do anything when it came to the internet.

      Truthfully, until he had mentioned it, she hadn’t even thought about the dark web. To her, the internet was the internet, whether it was “dark” or not.

      If anyone could make some notable headway there, it was Daniel. Especially since she had made him realize how important finding whoever had sent out that email was to her. To the family.

      Still, Marlowe was definitely not looking forward to telling her father that, rather than “mission accomplished,” there was a chance, albeit it a slim one, that it might turn into “mission impossible.”

      She sighed. There was nothing to be gained by putting this off, so she went back down to the boardroom on the off chance that her father was still there. This was the kind of message that she preferred delivering in person rather than over the phone.

      As she made her way down the corridors, the area felt oddly empty at this time of the late afternoon. Unless faced with a deadline that necessitated working overtime, most of the Colton Oil employees had gone home for the day. Even the lights seemed dimmer than usual, somehow, although none had been turned off yet.

      Drawing closer to the boardroom, Marlowe heard the sound of raised voices. Or at least one