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Chapter 9: Fifteen Missing Minutes
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2026-09-25 20:00:56The plan to return to the Sterling residence changed immediately.
Audrey’s SUV never left the hospital’s underground parking structure. Instead, it was moved deeper into a secured service area.Nathan was not willing to assume the person who had taken the photograph had already left the building.They stopped in a windowless section near the loading bays, completely separated from the public areas of the hospital. Daniel went back inside alone.Audrey remai
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Between You and the Bullet Chapter 54: The Person She Wants Beside Her
“All I want is for you to be safe with me.”Julian’s voice came softly through the phone.Audrey could not answer at once.There was nothing wrong with the words themselves. They were exactly the kind of thing a man might say to his fiancée after she had survived an explosion.That was what made the cold feeling beneath her ribs worse.The words she had spoken to Maya and Nathan the day before came back almost exactly as she had said them.Stop working.Stop going out.Want someone beside her.And now Julian was telling her she could step away from work, that she did not need to go out, that he would stay with her.It could be coincidence.It could simply be concern.The harder she tried to tell herself that, the more impossible the overlap became to ignore.Before the silence stretched too long, Audrey finally spoke.“Thank you. I’m going to rest to
Between You and the Bullet Chapter 53: Too Close to Suspect
“…Julian Ashford.”Even after saying the name aloud, Audrey kept her eyes on the screen.There was nothing unusual about Julian’s name appearing as the executive responsible for the acquisition the year before. On major Ashford Global deals, he often took a direct role. If anything, his involvement would have been expected.That was not the problem.The problem was the managed account that had funded the anonymous matter opened seven weeks earlier. That same account had previously paid the same attorney, and at the end of one of those earlier matters stood Julian.That was all they had.For now, it was still only that.“Audrey.”Nathan’s voice finally made her look up.“What are you thinking?”The question was different from the way he usually asked for an assessment. He was not pushing her toward a conclusion, and he was not trying to reassure her. He simply
Between You and the Bullet Chapter 52: The Client Without a Name
Seven weeks earlier.Three days before the first anonymous message arrived, a new matter had been opened at Hawthorne & Briggs.Four payments had gone from that matter to Northbridge.With that much established, the next question was obvious.Who had opened it?Maya brought them the answer the following afternoon.“We got additional records from the law firm.”Audrey looked up from the sofa.Enough time had passed since the explosion that Nathan was no longer confined to a treatment room, but his doctor still had not cleared him for a full return to work.That had not stopped him from sitting in on the discussion as though he had every right to be there, protecting his injured shoulder as he took the documents from Maya.“Who’s the client?” Audrey asked first.Maya paused.“That’s the problem. The name doesn’t appear cleanly.”“Wh
Between You and the Bullet Chapter 51: The Day the Money Moved
The bank records for Northbridge Strategic Services arrived that afternoon.Maya reviewed them first, then pulled out only the relevant pages and placed them in front of Audrey and Nathan.“It’s a more straightforward company than I expected.”“Straightforward?”Audrey looked at her.“What it claims to do doesn’t match how the money moves.”A corporate risk and crisis-management consultancy should have regular payments coming in from multiple clients, along with routine expenses for salaries, contractors, office space, and operations.Northbridge had almost none of that.“It lists three employees, but there are no regular payroll payments. There are some basic tax and registration expenses, but almost none of the fixed costs you’d expect from a normal operating company.”Nathan looked down at the records.“Money comes in only when it’s n
Between You and the Bullet Chapter 50: The Connection Eleven Days Ago
The missing Sterling reserve device had connected to the network from New Jersey eleven days earlier.By itself, that fact still had several possible explanations.An employee might have taken it out without completing the proper paperwork. It could have been moved to another office during a replacement cycle. The device-management records themselves might simply have been wrong.That was why Maya still refused to call it a stolen device.“We narrowed the connection down to a small office building in Newark.”The next morning, Maya spread a fresh set of records across the table in front of Audrey and Nathan, who were still at the private medical facility.Nathan’s right arm remained immobilized.His doctor had told him to rest, but he had already changed into normal clothes and was turning pages with his left hand as though the instruction had never been given.“Can you tell who used it?” he asked.
Between You and the Bullet Chapter 49: Two Gaps
They identified the source of the phone case later that evening.Maya opened the report from the analysis team. On the screen was a black leather case with a small gold fitting near the bottom.“We traced the manufacturer. It isn’t sold commercially. It’s issued with secure corporate devices, and the case itself can’t be bought separately at retail.”Audrey reached into her bag almost without thinking.She took out the device she used for work and placed it on the table.“…This?”Hers was deep brown rather than black, but the leather trim was the same.So was the small gold fitting at the bottom.Maya compared them.“That’s it.”Nathan looked at Audrey’s phone.“Sterling-issued?”“Yes. Secure executive device. I’ve had it since the last replacement cycle. I never realized the case itself was custom.&rdquo
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