Chapter 11 - SIXTEEN HOURS
Inside the CROSS folder, Marcus found the final move.
At 9:00 the next morning, a forged authorization would transfer $12.6 million from a family investment account into four offshore companies. The transfer had been staged weeks earlier. Vanessa only needed a physical security token to release it.
Rachel pointed at the screen. “And this file?”
Marcus opened it.
A second package was scheduled for automatic delivery to reporters, the board, and police. It contained edited emails, fake invoices, and documents designed to make Elena look like the architect of the theft.
Elena stared at her own forged signature.
“She was going to bury me.”
Damian’s voice was flat. “Not anymore.”
Police obtained emergency warrants. Banks were alerted. The countdown could be interrupted—but only if they found the token before Vanessa used it manually.
Then a traffic camera hit came in.
Vanessa’s car was crossing the George Washington Bridge toward Manhattan.
Marcus pulled up another file from Northstar.
A rental unit address.
“Storage facility on West Thirty-Eighth,” he said.
Elena grabbed her coat.
Damian blocked her. “No.”
“She put my name in that system.”
“This isn’t your job.”
Elena looked at him. “That stopped being true when she used my child.”
He wanted to argue.
He didn’t.
Ninety minutes later, they watched from an unmarked police vehicle as Vanessa entered the storage building carrying a red leather purse.
Marcus whispered, “Token could be inside.”
A second figure stepped out of the alley behind her.
Owen.
May you like
He looked directly toward their car.
And smiled.
