Chapter 7 - The Missing Half
The officer unfolded the damp strip.
The torn edges matched Nora’s note perfectly.
Liam placed the pieces together on the kitchen counter.
The complete message read:
Liam, I tried to protect you.
The transfers weren’t what Gwen said.
Please look inside the blue drive.
Your sister has been stealing from the trust your mother left you. The eight thousand dollars paid the accountant, the filing fee, and the emergency escrow needed to stop her.
I wanted proof before I broke your heart.
I still love you, but tonight you believed her without hearing me.
Liam read the final sentence twice.
Then he sank into a chair.
For three years, Gwen had managed the investment trust created by their late mother. Liam rarely checked the accounts because Gwen repeatedly assured him everything was secure.
Nora had asked questions.
Gwen had called her controlling.
Nora had requested statements.
Gwen had accused her of marrying Liam for money.
Every warning now returned with brutal clarity.
The eight thousand dollars had not vanished into a secret account.
Nora had used it to expose a theft.
Liam pressed both palms against his face.
“I locked her outside for trying to save me.”
Gwen scoffed.
“She was turning you against your family.”
“You stole from me.”
“You don’t know that.”
Liam held up the flash drive.
“We will.”
The forensic accountant’s card had an emergency number. An officer called it.
Mara Whitcomb answered immediately.
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for Nora to contact me.”
“Do you know where she is?”
A pause followed.
“No. But she sent me a message at 1:07 a.m.”
Liam’s heart raced.
“What did it say?”
Mara’s voice became careful.
May you like
“It said Gwen found the evidence—and Nora was running.”
👉 Nora’s final message included a location, but Gwen had reached it before anyone else.
