“That’s fine,” Lucas said, though his tone had sharpened slightly. “But you need to get on the next available plane. Everything is set up here.”

“Did you… did you get the money?” Chloe asked.

In the background of the call, I could hear a faint, metallic clicking sound.

It was the sound of a laptop keyboard.

“I’m finalizing the transfer right now,” Lucas said, and I could hear the faint smile in his voice. “It’s taking a little longer than usual to clear the local server, but it’s going through. We’re going to be fine, Chloe.”

I looked at the laptop screen on our end.

A red light on the bank’s monitoring dashboard was flashing.

*Transfer Initiated: $720,000.00.*

*Status: Pending Internal Review.*

“Lucas,” Chloe said, her voice barely a whisper.

“Just get here as soon as you can,” Lucas said. “I’m going to pour myself a drink and wait for the confirmation email. I love you.”

Before Chloe could answer, the line went dead.

She dropped the phone onto the table as if it had burned her.