Chapter 1 - What Did You Do to My Accounts?
Evan Carter lunged before Clara could step away from the military hospital entrance.
His hand shot toward the pale folder pressed against her uniform.
Colonel Grant caught Evan’s wrist, twisted it downward, and drove one controlled forearm into his chest.
Evan stumbled backward three steps and nearly collided with Madison Vale.
“What did you do to my accounts?” he shouted.
Clara did not flinch.
Her mother, Margaret, remained safely in the wheelchair beside two nurses, pale and exhausted after emergency surgery.
Clara raised her phone.
A blurred video showed the outline of Evan seated beside Madison at a private dining table while Clara had been calling him from the hospital.
Madison recognized the room and stepped away from him.
“That wasn’t the only video,” Clara said.
Margaret reached beneath her cardigan and pressed an old brass key into Clara’s palm.
“He searched my house.”
Evan stared at the key.
Clara opened the folder just enough to reveal a sealed gray envelope, a bank statement, and a small black data drive.
“What were you looking for?”
Evan said nothing.
Madison pulled out her phone.
Her hands trembled as a notification appeared.
Clara saw a familiar file thumbnail.
Then Evan’s phone began vibrating.
Madison looked at the blurred caller ID and covered her mouth.
Clara placed the data drive beside the phone.
“Why is my mother calling your phone?”
No one answered.
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Margaret watched Madison’s terrified face.
And Clara realized the woman sleeping with her husband knew far more about her mother than she had ever admitted.
