Chapter 4

Mr. Carter took my phone and watched the video for more than ten seconds.

Then he handed it back.

He didn't say whether he believed me.

“Let's go to the bank.”

A whole group of us headed there together.

The teller pulled up the company's transaction history.

The records on the screen were perfectly clear.

“On November 27th, the company account made a batch transfer totaling one hundred thousand dollars to one hundred employees in the tech department.”

Jake immediately spoke up.

“But together, we only received three thousand. Where did the other twenty-seven thousand go?”

The teller scrolled down.

“There was another transfer from the company account on November 27th.”

“How much?”

“Ninety thousand dollars.”

“Who was it sent to?”

The teller looked at the screen.

“Account holder: Nora Quinn.”

My mind exploded.

“That’s impossible!”

The teller turned the screen toward us.

There it was in black and white.

Recipient: Nora Quinn.

Amount: $27,000.

“I never received that money!”

Mr. Carter looked at me coldly.

“Then check your account.”

I immediately opened my mobile banking app.

Balance: $3,450.

“I only have thirty-four hundred and fifty dollars in here! That's my own money!”

Linda sighed beside me.

“Nora, you transferred twenty-seven thousand dollars to yourself, and now you're saying you never got it?”

“I really didn't!”

Mr. Carter's expression grew darker.

“Check her transaction history.”

The teller worked for a moment, then looked up.

“The account Ms. Quinn just showed us has no deposit of twenty-seven thousand dollars.”

Linda's expression changed.

“How is that possible? The company account clearly shows the money was sent.”

The teller checked again.

“The company account definitely shows an outgoing transfer of twenty-seven thousand dollars, and the listed recipient is Nora Quinn.

“But there is no matching incoming transaction in the account she just showed us.”

“Then where did the money go?”

The teller hesitated.

“The system shows the transfer as successful, but there's no record of the funds reaching the recipient's account.”

The air around us seemed to freeze.

Mr. Carter frowned.

“What does that mean?”

“It means...”

The teller hesitated again.

“The money seems to have disappeared during the transfer.”

“Disappeared?”

Mr. Carter's voice rose.

“How does money just disappear?”

“The system says the transfer was successful, but the recipient never received it. I've worked in banking for ten years, and I've never seen anything like this.”

Linda suddenly spoke.

“Nora, did you do something to manipulate the transfer?”

I whipped my head toward her.

“What could I possibly do? I don't even know how to hack an online banking system!”

“Maybe she hired someone who does.”

Linda pointed at me and gave a cold snort.

“How else could the money just vanish?”

The others looked at me with suspicion too.

They'd already decided I was the one who had taken it.

Mr. Carter stared at me and spoke slowly.

“Nora, I don't care where the money went.

“You handled the transfers.

“And the bank records show your name.

“This happened because of you.”

He paused.

“You'll cover the missing twenty-seven thousand first.

“Every cent.

“If you can't come up with it, the company will have no choice but to call the police.”

There was no room for negotiation in his voice.

“Ninety thousand dollars in company funds went missing under your watch.

“You need to think very carefully about what happens next.”

My knees gave out.

I sank to the floor.

It was exactly the same as my previous life.

They had never figured out where the money went.

The only thing the bank records showed was that it had been transferred to me.

I could say a hundred times that I hadn't taken it.

No one believed me.

And in the end, I'd died in prison before morning ever came.

“Nora.”

Mr. Carter's voice sounded again.

“I'll ask you one last time.

“Can you cover the money first?”

I bit my lip until it turned white.

“I didn't take it.”

My voice shook.

“So what am I supposed to pay back?”