The Price of a Flawless Lie and the Family That Vanished
“You told me those were approved by the CFO!” Isabel wrote.
“They were,” Julian lied. “But the documentation needs to be clean.”
I took a screenshot of the exchange, saving it to my local drive.
Harrison stirred, his eyes fluttering open.
“Mama?” he murmured.
“I’m here, sweetie,” I said, putting the phone face down on the table.
I smoothed his hair back from his forehead.
“Are we going to the beach?” he asked.
“Soon,” I said. “Just a little longer.”
My phone vibrated against the wood, a single, sharp buzz.
I picked it up, expecting another text from Lydia.
Instead, it was an email alert from our joint bank account.
Julian had just initiated a wire transfer of eighty thousand dollars to a private account in Delaware.
He was moving the liquid assets.
I opened my laptop, my fingers flying across the keyboard to block the transfer using the joint-holder authority Lydia had verified for me.
Before I could click the button, a text message came through from an unknown number.
It was an image.
I tapped it.