Chapter 4 - Blood in the Water
Z
At 2:00 AM, the third floor of Morgan Events Group smelled of stale Starbucks coffee and printer toner. My team was exhausted, but nobody complained. When employees realize their company is fighting for its life, the good ones don't abandon ship—they fight beside you.
I was leaning over a lightbox tracing a floral layout when my phone rang again. It was my mother.
I picked it up, stepping out into the quiet hallway. "Mom? It's two in the morning. Is Dad okay?"
"Nora..." My mother’s voice was trembling, muffled by silent crying. "You need to come home. Or... come to your sister’s apartment. It’s terrible."
I paused, holding the phone away from my ear for a second to ground myself. "What happened?"
"Chloe just called us in hysterics," Mom sobbed. "She said you're trying to put her in prison! She said you filed criminal charges against her and Julian! Nora, she’s your little sister! She made a mistake, she got confused, but she's family! You can't let strangers put your own sister behind bars!"
I felt a cold knife turn in my stomach. The manipulation was so transparent it made me sick. Chloe knew she couldn't beat me legally, so she was using our parents as human shields.
"Mom, listen to me," I said, keeping my voice firm despite the ache in my chest. "Chloe didn't 'make a mistake.' She helped Julian steal nearly ninety thousand dollars from us. She broke into the office after hours, stole client files, and she is currently helping Julian sabotage our biggest account to destroy Dad’s life work. Did she tell you that?"
"She's young, Nora! Julian manipulated her!" Mom cried out, defensive and blind. "Your father is sick over this! His blood pressure is through the roof! He told me that if this goes to court and becomes a public scandal, it will ruin what's left of our family name. Your father wants you to drop the criminal report. Just take the company back and let them go!"
"If I drop the charges, Julian wins, Mom! He gets away with the money, he takes our clients, and he leaves us bankrupt!"
"Is money more important to you than your sister's freedom?!" my mother screamed through the phone.
The words struck me like a physical slap. All my life, I had been the reliable one, the dutiful daughter who managed the finances, fixed the mistakes, and stayed out of the spotlight while Chloe was spoiled and doted upon. Now, when Chloe stabbed me in the back and stole my husband, I was being cast as the villain for defending myself.
"Money isn't more important, Mom," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous, icy whisper. "Justice is. And if you and Dad choose to side with the people who robbed you, then you can do it without me."
I hung up before she could reply.
I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the hallway window, closing my eyes. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyelids, but I forced them back. I couldn't afford to cry. Crying was a luxury for people who had time to waste.
"Nora?"
I turned around. Sarah Sterling, our corporate attorney, was standing down the hall holding a Manila folder.
"I just got off the phone with the private investigator," Sarah said, walking over. "You were right to have us look into C-Consulting's secondary offshore wire transfers."
"What did you find?"
Sarah opened the folder. "Julian and Chloe weren't just skimming ninety thousand dollars for luxury trips and spa weekends. C-Consulting was acting as a pass-through entity. Over the last four months, Julian has been transferring large sums of money—over three hundred thousand dollars—into a private account registered in the Cayman Islands."
I frowned. "Three hundred thousand? Where did he get that kind of money? Morgan Events Group doesn't have that kind of liquid cash sitting around."
"He didn't take it from Morgan Events," Sarah replied, dropping the bomb. "He took it from your grandmother's trust fund. Julian had power of attorney privileges on your joint domestic accounts, and he used a forged signature to secure an asset-backed loan against your trust's equity."
The world spun around me for a fraction of a second. My breath caught in my throat.
He hadn't just cheated on me. He hadn't just stolen from the company. He had mortgaged my future, taking out loans against my inheritance to build a hidden nest egg in an offshore bank account—all while sleeping with my sister.
"He was planning to bleed the company dry, trigger a bankruptcy, divorce you, and walk away with three hundred grand tax-free while leaving you with millions in debt," Sarah explained, her tone grave. "This isn't just corporate fraud anymore, Nora. This is premeditated grand larceny and financial ruin."
I looked at the folder in Sarah's hands. The grief and betrayal that had been suffocating me for the last forty-eight hours suddenly evaporated, replaced by a dark, terrible rage.
"Does Julian know we found the Cayman account?" I asked quietly.
"Not yet," Sarah said. "The bank only confirmed it an hour ago."
"Good," I said, a slow, cold smile spreading across my face. "Don't tell the police yet either."
Sarah blinked, surprised. "Why not? This is enough to have him arrested tomorrow morning."
"Because tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, I have a meeting with Victoria Vance," I said, turning back toward the conference room where my team was finishing the presentation. "Julian thinks he's going to ambush me there and steal the six-million-dollar contract. He thinks he holds all the cards."
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I looked out at the city skyline, watching the first light of dawn bleed across the horizon.
"I want him to feel like he's winning," I whispered. "I want him to walk right into that room believing he’s won everything... so I can watch him lose it all at once."
