Chapter 6 - The Perfect Frame
I stared at Dad.
“Tell me you didn't do this.”
“I didn't.”
Richard gave a quiet laugh.
“Of course.”
Dad turned toward him.
“You knew the amount.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“What?”
“When she said two point four million, you reacted before the administrator repeated it.”
I replayed the moment in my head.
Dad was right.
Richard had known.
I asked the administrator to freeze everything.
She told me the transfer was already under fraud review because the authorization contained an outdated verification code.
One mistake.
Whoever forged Dad's approval hadn't known the reserve account's security protocol had changed.
Dad exhaled.
Richard swore under his breath.
I heard it.
So did my phone.
Then the administrator said something else.
“The receiving entity concerns us.”
“What entity?”
“Mercer Strategic Consulting.”
Richard looked toward the empty chair where Chief Mercer had been sitting.
My stomach turned.
“Mercer?”
The administrator couldn't confirm ownership without further review.
But I didn't need confirmation to understand why the chief had vanished.
Dad picked up his black case.
“We leave now.”
Richard stepped in front of me.
“You walk out, Lily, don't come back.”
I looked around the mansion.
Our wedding portrait.
My mother's antique cabinet.
The Easter flowers I'd arranged that morning while Richard complained they looked cheap.
For years, he'd trained me to believe losing this house meant losing my life.
Suddenly it looked like furniture.
I slipped on shoes, grabbed my purse and Mom's document box.
Then I walked toward the door.
Richard caught my wrist.
Dad moved.
I raised my other hand.
“Dad.”
He stopped.
I looked directly at Richard.
“Take your hand off me.”
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then Richard released me.
I walked away.
Behind us, Richard shouted, “Your father won't save you!”
Dad opened the truck door.
I climbed inside.
Then he handed me the black case.
“Hold this.”
It was heavier than it looked.
“What is it?”
“Something I hoped I'd never need again.”
Before I could ask more, Dad looked into the rearview mirror.
May you like
A dark SUV had pulled away from the curb behind us.
And it followed when we turned.
