Chapter 6 - The Final Ledger (Unexpected Conclusion)
I shouldn't have looked. But after surviving the last few days, my paranoia was at an all-time high. I leaned over, the pain in my abdomen a dull ache, and tapped Daniel's screen.
The text read: "The fall guys are in custody. Transfer the remaining $10 million to the Cayman account, as discussed. Pleasure doing business, Mr. CEO."
My blood ran cold. The air in the room evaporated.
I quickly grabbed his phone, using the six-digit passcode I knew by heart. I dug into his encrypted messages—a separate app hidden deep within a utilities folder.
The truth hit me like a freight train.
Eleanor hadn't orchestrated the embezzlement to protect Vanessa. Daniel had orchestrated the embezzlement.
The messages revealed the entire sickening plot. Daniel had been draining the company dry for years to fund a massive offshore tech venture that he didn't want the board or his family to control. When the auditors started getting close to finding the missing $2.5 million, Daniel panicked. He manipulated his mother, feeding her lies that Vanessa was in danger from a syndicate, knowing Eleanor would do anything to protect her "golden child."
Daniel set up the fake syndicate. Daniel forced his own sister to steal the $150,000, pushing her to the brink of a nervous breakdown. He knew Vanessa would come to me for the money. He knew she was unstable.
He wanted her to attack me.
He needed a violent, chaotic distraction to pin all the blame on Vanessa and his mother, ensuring they went to prison while he walked away clean with the rest of the stolen millions. He had timed his "early arrival" perfectly, waiting outside until the screaming started.
He played the hero. He let me destroy his mother and sister for him.
The door handle clicked. Daniel walked in, holding two cups of decaf coffee, a warm, loving smile on his handsome face.
"Hey," he said softly. "The nurses said the babies are doing amazing. We might be able to hold them tomorrow."
I looked at him. The man I married. The father of my children. A sociopath who had engineered a bloodbath in his own living room just to balance a ledger.
I slipped his phone back onto the nightstand, my face a perfect, unreadable mask. I was an auditor, after all. I knew how to play the long game.
"That's wonderful," I said, smiling back at him.
Let him think he won. Let him think the $10 million was safe in his Cayman account. He didn't know that during my time monitoring the honeypot servers, I had mapped his personal devices too. By midnight, that $10 million would be quietly routed to an irrevocable trust in my name, and a scheduled, delayed email containing his encrypted texts would be sent directly to the same FBI agent who arrested his mother.
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"I can't wait to go home with you," Daniel said, kissing my forehead.
"Me neither," I whispered, resting my head against the pillow. "We're going to get exactly what we deserve."
