Chapter 1 - The Smashed Screen
My phone began to buzz frantically on the desk just ten minutes after I clicked that button.
The caller ID displayed the name of an exclusive designer jewelry boutique in downtown Minneapolis.
I let it ring until it went directly to voicemail.
I knew exactly what was happening in that luxurious store.
Constance Abernathy had just tried to purchase something outrageously expensive, and her card had been publicly declined for the very first time in her life.
Two hours later, the heavy oak front door of my townhouse suddenly flew open.
Kieran marched into my home office without bothering to knock.
His polished courtroom demeanor was completely gone, replaced by a dark, simmering fury.
He walked straight up to my desk and stared down at me with cold, calculating eyes.
He told me I was making a massive mistake by humiliating his mother in public.
I calmly replied that I was simply closing a joint account that no longer served my financial interests.
Kieran did not even blink before he reached out and grabbed my expensive laptop.
He lifted it high into the air and violently smashed it down onto the edge of my mahogany desk.
The screen completely shattered, sending shards of glass and plastic flying across the pristine hardwood floor.
He leaned in close, his voice dropping to a terrifying, deadly whisper.
He told me I should have just let everything go and walked away quietly.
Then he turned on his heel and confidently walked out of my house.
He truly believed he had just destroyed my only access to the family's financial records.
I waited until I heard his car speed out of my driveway before I finally allowed myself to smile.
I walked over to a loose floorboard hidden perfectly beneath my heavy filing cabinet.
I pried it open and pulled out a small, encrypted external hard drive.
I plugged it into my backup tablet and opened the files that tracked millions of dollars flowing through the Abernathy family charity.
My smile instantly faded as I opened a folder labeled with my own maiden name.
May you like
I stared in absolute horror as I realized they had not just been hiding money.
They had been using my personal social security number to illegally launder millions of dollars for an international crime syndicate.
