Chapter 5

“Then call the police.”

Mr. Carter picked up his phone.

Just then, mine rang.

It was Lucy Jackson from the front desk.

The moment I answered, her tearful voice came through.

“Nora, you need to come back right now! Your grandmother came to bring you lunch, and she overheard people from Tech saying you stole twenty-seven thousand dollars from the company.

“She passed out!

“We already called 911. Please hurry!”

My head buzzed.

It felt as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over me.

Grandma's health was already so poor that she barely even went grocery shopping anymore.

She'd been worried I wouldn't eat properly over the holiday weekend, so she'd ridden the bus for forty minutes just to bring me lunch.

“My grandma passed out... I have to go to the hospital!”

I turned toward the door.

Linda immediately stepped in front of me.

“You're not going anywhere.”

She stared at me coldly.

“How do we know you're not using this as an excuse to run?

“Ninety thousand dollars is still missing under your name. If you leave, who's going to pay it back?”

My throat tightened.

“I already told you, I didn't take it!”

“Then pay the money back first.”

Linda held out her hand as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“You've still got over three thousand in your account, don't you? Transfer that back to the company first.

“Then sign an IOU for the rest.

“You can pay it off over time.”

I looked at Mr. Carter.

He stood off to the side, lips pressed into a thin line, staring somewhere else.

He said nothing.

He didn't stop her.

At that moment, it felt like something inside my chest was being torn apart.

My grandmother was in the hospital.

And all they cared about was the company's money.

“Mr. Carter.”

My voice shook uncontrollably.

“My grandmother needs money for the hospital. That three thousand dollars is everything I have saved.

“I can sign an IOU. I won't run.

“Please, just let me go to the hospital first.”

Mr. Carter's brows shifted slightly.

He opened his mouth as if he was about to speak.

Then the bank teller suddenly looked up.

Her voice cracked.

“Mr. Carter, there's another transfer!”

He frowned.

“What transfer?

“It just left the company account.”

She stared at the screen.

“The recipient is... Nora Quinn.”

“How much?”

The teller swallowed.

Her eyes stayed fixed on the monitor.

“One hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

The entire bank went silent.

Every pair of eyes turned toward me like needles.

Mr. Carter whipped around.

His eyes were bloodshot.

“Nora, what the hell did you do?”

I was completely stunned.

“I don't know!

“My banking app still only shows thirty-four hundred and fifty dollars. Look!”

I shoved my phone toward them.

The page refreshed.

Balance: $3,450.

There was no hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Linda immediately shrieked,

“She must have another bank account!

“She keeps pretending to be pitiful because she wants us to feel sorry for her, then she'll take the money and disappear!”

Jake shouted too.

“Call the police!

“Mr. Carter, call them now!”

Mr. Carter's face was livid as he tapped his phone.

“Hello, 911?”

I collapsed onto the floor.

Images from my previous life flashed through my mind.

The prison bars.

The damp walls.

The kicks that had broken my ribs.

The night I never survived.

No.

I couldn't go through that again.

I forced myself to think.

Where had the money gone?

Thirty thousand dollars had left the company account.

Tech had only received three thousand.

Now another hundred and fifty thousand had disappeared.

But none of it had entered my account.

So where was the problem?

The flash drive?

The employee list?

The banking system?

The computer?

Then, in a flash, one tiny detail slammed into my mind.

I jerked my head up and shouted with everything I had,

“I know where the money went!”