Chapter 2 - The Bleeding Ledger
Daniel Mercer had been my attorney for twenty-three years.
His face was clearly visible in the mirror of the forged photograph.
I felt a cold, murderous rage replace the shock in my veins.
For eight years, I had mourned a woman who was being kept heavily sedated just miles away.
I stood up and ordered Rosa to take Mia to the secure guest suite upstairs.
I told Marco to lock down the entire townhouse and arm every guard on the perimeter.
Marco asked me what was wrong, his hand instinctively dropping to his weapon.
I did not show him the photograph yet.
I walked straight to my private safe and pulled out the encrypted hard drives containing my financial ledgers.
I plugged the drive into my laptop and searched for the routing numbers used to pay for Elena's fake funeral.
The screen illuminated the dark study with a harsh, blue light.
The funeral expenses were not a one-time payment.
They were a recurring monthly wire transfer extending over ninety-six months.
The money was being funneled into a shell corporation registered in the Cayman Islands.
I cross-referenced the corporate ID with our internal payroll system.
The trail led directly to a highly classified account that only Daniel had the authorization to access.
He had stolen eight years of my life and used my own money to fund my misery.
I picked up my phone and dialed the number for my chief accountant, Arthur.
I needed Arthur to freeze the accounts before Daniel realized the girl had reached me.
The line rang three times before someone finally answered.
May you like
It was not Arthur's voice on the other end of the line.
A cold, mechanical voice simply whispered that I was already too late.
