Chapter 2 - Shadow in the Starlight
The document sitting on my screen was a lethal piece of paper. It was an emergency lien release, transferring ownership of the estate to an anonymous holding company in the Caymans if a debt wasn't settled within forty-eight hours. Attached to it was my digital signature, forged with terrifying perfection.
I looked at Camila, who was watching me with watchful, distrustful eyes.
"Camila," I said softly, crouching down to her eye level. "I promise you on my life, your mother is going to get every single cent she is owed. Today."
I walked over to my desk safe, pulled out $10,000 in emergency cash reserves, and placed it inside an envelope. Handing it to the girl, I asked her to take it straight to her mother and tell her to pay the landlord immediately, promising that I would handle the rest personally.
Once Camila left, I dialed my private investigator and forensic accountant, Marcus Vance. Marcus was an ex-Treasury agent who didn't care about hurt feelings—he cared about cold, hard data.
"Christian," Marcus answered on the second ring. "What’s going on?"
"My sister is stealing from me," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "She’s draining my staff's payroll, running fake charities in our name, and she just pledged my house as collateral for a five-million-dollar loan. I need you here. Now."
Within forty-five minutes, Marcus was sitting across from me in my study, plugging an encrypted hard drive into my main terminal. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he pulled down internal logs, digital certificates, and banking trails.
"It’s clean work," Marcus noted grimly, pointing to the screen. "She didn't just log into your account. She cloned your hardware token. She’s been sitting inside your network for at least six months. But look at where the money is going after it hits Apex Services."
He pulled up a web of transactions. The $80,000 taken from the staff and the $250,000 taken from the fake charity didn't stay in the Caymans. They were redirected through three shell corporations before landing in an account tied to a high-stakes luxury casino in Macau and a private equity firm run by Julian Vance—no relation to Marcus, but a well-known, ruthless venture capitalist in Los Angeles who happened to be Emily’s fiancé.
"She’s not just stealing, Christian," Marcus said, looking up with grave eyes. "She’s laundering money. And she’s setting you up to take the fall when the house of cards collapses."
Just then, the double doors of my study swung open.
Emily stood on the threshold. She was dressed in an effortless cream-colored cashmere suit, her hair styled to perfection, holding a cup of artisan coffee. She looked every bit the picture of wealthy elegance and devotion.
"Christian!" she exclaimed with a bright, beautiful smile. "I didn't know you were home early. Is everything okay?"
I closed the laptop screen just enough to hide the payout logs, keeping my expression entirely neutral.
May you like
"Everything’s fine, Emily," I replied smoothly. "Just reviewing some routine household expenses."
She didn't flinch. She stepped into the room, placed the coffee on my desk, and leaned down to kiss my cheek—a gesture that made my skin crawl.
