Chapter 7 - THE EIGHT MILLION

“How much is the rest?”

Marcus looked at me.

“Twenty-two million.”

I actually laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because sometimes shock comes out sounding like laughter.

“Twenty-two million dollars?”

“The transfer failed.”

Daniel stared at Marcus.

“How?”

Marcus ignored him.

I understood.

“Because of the safeguards.”

“Yes.”

Daniel’s face changed.

“You’ve been spying on me.”

I turned toward him.

“You forged my signature.”

“I was moving marital assets!”

“They weren’t marital assets.”

“You’re my wife!”

“That doesn’t make my inheritance yours.”

He leaned forward against the officers’ grip.

“You never treated me like an equal!”

I stared at him.

“I gave your mother ten thousand dollars every month.”

“That’s not the point!”

“I paid off your business debt.”

“That was temporary.”

“I bought the lake house you told everyone you bought.”

His family members had gathered near the dining room doors.

Some looked stunned.

Others embarrassed.

His cousin Brandon whispered, “Dude…”

Daniel snapped at him.

“Stay out of this!”

I kept going.

“I paid for the cars. The club membership. Your investment losses. Your mother’s medical bills.”

Patricia screamed.

“You’re lying!”

Marcus looked at her.

“She isn’t.”

Everyone went quiet.

Marcus opened the red folder.

“Mrs. Mercer’s family trust has funded more than eighty percent of the lifestyle Mr. Mercer publicly claimed as his own.”

Daniel’s uncle slowly sat down.

Patricia looked around the room.

People were staring at her now.

Not me.

For the first time that evening, she was the one being humiliated.

She pointed at me.

“You let us believe—”

“I let Daniel keep his dignity.”

Daniel laughed bitterly.

“My dignity?”

“I loved you.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I protected you.”

“You controlled everything!”

“No. I trusted you with almost everything.”

He looked away.

I lowered my voice.

“And you stole from me.”

Detectives arrived twenty minutes later.

Daniel was taken into another room.

Victoria was separated from Patricia.

The relatives were told to remain available for questions.

Marcus and I went back into the study.

He placed several documents on the desk.

“There’s more.”

I closed my eyes.

“Of course there is.”

“The attempted transfer yesterday wasn’t random.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was scheduled.”

“For when?”

“Tonight.”

My skin prickled.

The message.

You said tonight.

“Scheduled for after dinner?”

“11:45 p.m.”

I looked at the clock.

10:32.

“What would happen at 11:45?”

Marcus hesitated.

“According to the authorization documents, ownership control of three holding companies would shift to Daniel.”

“But he needed my signature.”

“Yes.”

“And he didn’t have it.”

Marcus looked at me carefully.

“He did.”

My stomach dropped.

“What?”

“A signature was submitted this afternoon.”

“That’s impossible.”

“It passed the first authentication layer.”

I stared at him.

“How?”

Marcus slid a document across the desk.

At the bottom was my name.

Emily Mercer.

The signature looked perfect.

Then I saw the date.

Today.

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