Chapter 3 - The Name on the Transfer
The money didn't lead where I expected. It led straight to my cousin.
Sarah stared at the page.
“No.”
I held it out.
She didn't take it.
“No, Alina.”
“Read it.”
“I didn't do that.”
“I know.”
Her eyes snapped toward me.
“You know?”
“Yes.”
Gary stepped between us.
“Then why are you accusing my daughter?”
“I’m not.”
“That's her name!”
“Yes.”
He pointed at me.
“You've been trying to destroy us.”
I looked at him.
“If I wanted to destroy you, Gary, you wouldn't be sitting in this dining room.”
Liam's expression tightened.
Sarah looked at him.
“Tell me.”
He shook his head.
“I don't know enough.”
“You know more than I do.”
“That isn't true.”
She turned toward me.
“What happened seven weeks ago?”
I closed the folder.
“Someone used your identity to move money.”
Sarah froze.
“My identity?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know yet.”
Gary scoffed.
“So you don't know anything.”
“I know enough.”
I pulled out my phone and opened the encrypted message thread that had started the entire investigation.
Six weeks and four days ago, someone had sent me a photograph.
It showed a bank transfer.
The sender account belonged to a company controlled by Nexus.
The receiving account belonged to a shell corporation registered in Delaware.
The account holder was listed as Sarah Bennett.
But Sarah had never opened an account there.
She had never owned a company.
She had never signed anything.
Someone had created the company using her name and social security information.
Aunt Debbie started crying.
“I don't understand.”
“I didn't either.”
Gary looked at me.
“So what have you done?”
“I froze every account connected to the shell company.”
His expression changed instantly.
“Every account?”
“Yes.”
“That's why the transfer failed.”
I nodded.
Gary turned white.
“What transfer?”
I looked at him.
“The one you tried to make last Tuesday.”
Silence.
His eyes moved toward the floor.
Liam stepped forward.
“You told me this was a family matter.”
Gary ignored him.
I continued.
“You tried to move $1.8 million through a private investment account.”
Sarah stared at her father.
“Dad?”
He looked at her.
“It's complicated.”
She whispered,
“Where did you get that money?”
He didn't answer.
I looked at my aunt.
She looked away.
That was when I knew there were three people in the room who had been lying.
And only one of them had been smiling all evening.
I turned toward Liam.
“You should tell Sarah the rest.”
Sarah looked at him.
“What rest?”
Liam's phone buzzed.
He read the message.
Then his face hardened.
He looked at me.
“It's official.”
“What?”
He showed me his screen.
A legal notice from our general counsel.
Emergency board review scheduled for 8:00 a.m.
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because someone has filed a complaint against you.”
“Against me?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
He looked toward Gary.
“Bennett Family Holdings.”
Gary stared at him.
“I didn't authorize that.”
Liam's brows furrowed.
“Then who did?”
Gary said nothing.
Sarah slowly backed away from her father.
“What complaint?”
Liam answered.
“They're claiming Alina used Nexus assets to interfere with a private family business.”
Sarah looked at me.
“Is that true?”
“No.”
Gary snapped,
“She has been monitoring us!”
I shook my head.
“I monitored accounts that were connected to Nexus.”
“Because you don't trust us!”
“No.”
“Then why?”
I looked at him.
“Because someone inside your family was stealing.”
His face hardened.
“Who?”
I held his gaze.
“I haven't decided.”
Liam's phone buzzed again.
This time he didn't open it.
He handed it to me.
A message from our legal team.
We identified the person who authorized the complaint.
I read the name.
My stomach dropped.
Not Gary.
Not Aunt Debbie.
Not Sarah.
It was someone I had known my entire life.
Someone I had trusted more than anyone in that house.
I looked at Sarah.
“Your brother.”
She stared at me.
“Evan?”
I nodded.
“But Evan isn't here.”
“I know.”
“Why would he do that?”
I looked at the screen again.
Because the message contained a second line.
He is at your house right now.
My blood went cold.
My house.
Not Gary's.
Mine.
Liam saw my expression.
“What?”
May you like
I stood.
“He's in my office.”
