Chapter: Chapter Twelve: Before You Were His“You owned part of Whitmore Technologies before I did.”For a moment, the sentence meant nothing.The words were English. I understood each of them individually.Together, they were nonsense.“What?”Across the kitchen, Julian’s expression had gone completely still.Grant exhaled into the phone.“Come to my apartment.”“No.”“Camille.”“You can send me the document.”“I’m not sending this electronically.”“Why?”“Because considering what we’ve discovered about people using your name and accounts, I’m surprised you still want anything sent electronically.”That was irritatingly reasonable.I looked at Julian.He shook his head.I raised an eyebrow.He pointed at himself, then toward the door.He wanted to come.Absolutely not.I turned away from him.“Fine. I’ll meet you somewhere public.”“My apartment isn’t dangerous.”“I didn’t say it was.”“You’re treating me like I’m going to hurt you.”The accusation caught me off guard.“Grant, forty-eight hours ago you handed me divorce papers
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: Chapter Eleven: The Night of the TransferFor several seconds, no one spoke.Not Evelyn on the phone.Not Julian beside me.Certainly not me.I stared at the authentication record until the words WHITMORE-RESIDENCE-PRIMARY stopped looking like a network name and started looking like an accusation.My house.Eight months ago.Someone had sat inside the home I shared with my husband and authorized the transfer of $750,000 from an investment vehicle I didn’t even know existed.Using my identity.“Camille?” Evelyn said.I found my voice.“What exactly would someone have needed to authorize this?”“Your credentials.”“I didn’t have credentials.”“You did.”I frowned. “How?”“When Wellington was established, an account was created for you as a beneficial owner.”“You created an account for me without telling me the account existed?”“That was the point.”I closed my eyes.“I’m going to need our family to reconsider its definition of financial planning.”Under different circumstances, Evelyn might have laughed.She didn’t.“The cred
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: Chapter Ten: Family Money“I think it’s time we talk to Evelyn.”I stared at my aunt’s handwriting.E. Monroe — authorized.Three words.That was all it took to transform the woman I had trusted my entire life into another question I didn’t know how to answer.“No.”Julian looked at me. “No?”“Not yet.”Twenty minutes earlier, I’d nearly called my father without thinking. Julian had stopped me because we needed information before confrontation.I wasn’t making the same mistake twice.“If Evelyn is involved with Wellington, I want to know what Wellington is before she knows we’re looking.”Something that looked suspiciously like approval crossed Julian’s face.“Don’t.”“I didn’t say anything.”“You made the face.”“What face?”“The one where you’re impressed with me.”“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”“Liar.”His mouth curved.“Frequently. Professionally.”I pointed at the computer. “Research.”“Yes, counselor.”We spent the next hour pulling every publicly available record we could find.Wellington S
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: Chapter Nine: Follow The MoneyGrant hadn’t told me to ask who owned Hawthorne.He’d told me to ask who paid for it.There was a difference.I stared at the text message until the words blurred.Across from me, Julian was already moving. He returned to his desk, pulled his keyboard closer, and began typing.“What are you doing?”“Following instructions.”“Grant’s?”“Don’t insult me.”Despite everything, the corner of my mouth twitched.Julian glanced up.“Was that a smile?”“No.”“It looked like one.”“Concentrate.”“I can do both.”“I remember.”The words slipped out before I could stop them.His fingers paused over the keyboard.So did my breathing.For one brief, dangerous second, neither of us was standing in a law office discussing shell companies and forged signatures. We were twenty-five again, sitting too close together in a law-school library, pretending the tension between us wasn’t obvious to everyone except us.Julian’s eyes held mine.“I remember too.”His voice was quieter now.I looked away first.“H
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: Chapter Eight: The Wrong Question“Because at the time, Camille, I thought you were the one who put it there.”For several seconds, I stood in the lobby of Whitmore Technologies while people moved around me.A woman carrying coffee stepped around my shoulder. Two men in suits walked toward the elevators. Somewhere behind the reception desk, a phone rang.Normal life continued while I tried to decide whether I wanted to scream at Julian Cross or cross-examine him.The lawyer won.“Explain.”“I’d rather do this in person.”“I’m sure you would.”“Camille.”“No. You don’t get to use that voice with me after telling me you’ve been sitting on this for three months.”“What voice?”“That calm, reasonable voice you use when you think everyone else is becoming emotional.”“I don’t have a voice.”“You absolutely have a voice.”“I have several. You’ve heard most of them.”I closed my eyes.“Julian.”“There’s that voice again.”“You are dangerously close to becoming the second man I murder this week.”“Second?”“Grant is currently
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: Chapter Seven: The SignatureBy seven the next morning, I had already changed three passwords, downloaded six months of bank records, and learned that rage was remarkably efficient when paired with coffee. Julian had left just after eleven the night before, taking the flash drive with him and leaving me with far more questions than answers. He had also left the empty Thai containers neatly stacked beside the sink, which was irritatingly considerate. I hadn’t slept much. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the same sequence: Grant at Laurent, Vanessa wearing my grandmother’s bracelet, Daniel Mercer saying Grant had used my name, and Julian placing that black flash drive between us like evidence at trial. An email account created under my name. The sentence had followed me upstairs, into bed, and through the three hours of sleep I eventually managed. By morning, I had stopped thinking like a wife. I was thinking like a lawyer. That distinction mattered. At eight fifteen, I was sitting in my home office with
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
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