Chapter 15 - THE WEDDING RINGThe silence in the visitation room was so heavy you could hear the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead.
I stared at Preston, my mind refusing to process the absurdity of his words for a fraction of a second.
"My wedding ring?" I repeated, my voice dropping into a dangerous whisper. "The platinum band with the engraved family crest?"
Preston nodded frantically, tears spilling over his eyelashes. "Yes! When we got married twenty years ago, your father had a micro-chip engraved inside the inner band as a security measure for the family trust. I used that exact digital signature years later to hack into the European accounts and set up the Swiss vaults under an encrypted protocol."
Julian stepped closer, his brow furrowing. "Where is the ring now, Hale?"
Preston squeezed his eyes shut, his voice dropping to a ragged whisper. "When the federal agents raided my office... I slipped it off and left it in my private desk drawer. But when I went back to clear my things before the arrest... it was gone."
My heart skipped a beat.
"Gone?" I asked sharply. "Who took it?"
"Sloane," Preston hissed, his teeth grinding together in sudden, bitter hatred. "She must have stolen it out of my drawer the night before the charity gala. She thought it was just an expensive antique diamond-and-platinum band she could pawn for quick cash!"
Julian and I exchanged a sharp, communicating glance.
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Sloane Avery—the mid-level marketing executive who thought she had just walked away with a broken heart and a lost apartment—was currently walking around Ohio wearing a multi-billion-dollar digital encryption key on her finger.
And she had no idea that international assassins were tracking her every move.
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