Chapter 2 - The File That Shouldn't Exist
“Who is Peter?” Julian asked.
Marcus didn't answer.
Reeves did.
“Peter Lang.”
I remembered the name.
Barely.
Peter had been Mercer Dynamics' controller when Marcus and I were married.
Quiet.
Methodical.
The kind of person who could sit through an entire dinner without saying more than ten words.
Then he had suddenly resigned.
Marcus told me Peter had taken another job.
I never questioned it.
“Why would Peter Lang be here?” I asked.
Marcus finally spoke.
“He wouldn't.”
“You just said his name.”
“I thought I saw someone.”
“You didn't see anyone. Emma did.”
Marcus looked toward the door.
Reeves was already moving.
Julian handed Emma to my mother, who had approached after noticing the commotion.
“Stay with Grandma, sweetheart.”
Then he returned.
I looked at Reeves.
“What does Peter have to do with the drive?”
Reeves lowered his voice.
“Potentially everything.”
We moved into a quiet hotel conference room away from the wedding.
Marcus initially refused.
Then Reeves informed him the conversation was voluntary.
Marcus immediately agreed.
That told me something too.
He wanted to know what we knew.
Chloe came with him despite his objections.
Once the door closed, Reeves placed several documents on the table.
The first was familiar.
Alder Strategic.
$480,000.
Northbridge Advisory.
$725,000.
Crestwell Holdings.
$610,000.
Transfers.
Dozens of them.
“What exactly are you alleging?” Marcus demanded.
“Nothing,” Reeves replied. “We're establishing facts.”
Marcus laughed without humor.
“At my cousin's wedding?”
“My cousin,” I corrected.
He ignored me.
Reeves placed another document down.
“This account was discovered during historical reconciliation.”
Marcus stopped talking.
I leaned forward.
The beneficiary name had been partially redacted.
But one thing wasn't.
My name.
EVELYN MERCER.
I stared.
“What is this?”
Marcus said nothing.
“Marcus?”
“I've never seen it.”
Reeves looked at him.
“That's interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because the authorization contains your electronic signature.”
Marcus leaned back.
“Electronic signatures can be copied.”
“Correct.”
Chloe was staring at the paper too.
Then she said something almost inaudible.
“Oh my God.”
Marcus turned.
“Chloe.”
She stood.
“No.”
“What?”
“You told me that account was closed.”
The room went silent.
I looked at her.
“What account?”
Marcus stood too.
“We're leaving.”
Chloe didn't move.
“What account?” I repeated.
Her eyes met mine.
For the first time in five years, there was no smugness there.
Only fear.
“Chloe.”
Marcus grabbed her wrist.
Julian immediately stood.
“Take your hand off her.”
Marcus released her.
Chloe looked at him.
Then at me.
“There was an account.”
My heart began pounding.
“What was it for?”
“I don't know.”
“You just said Marcus told you it was closed.”
“He did.”
“When?”
She swallowed.
“The week before your divorce.”
Marcus slammed his palm against the table.
“Enough.”
Reeves didn't flinch.
“Sit down, Mr. Mercer.”
Marcus stared at him.
Then slowly sat.
Chloe remained standing.
“I didn't know it was in Evelyn's name,” she said.
“Then what did you know?”
“That Marcus needed something signed.”
My skin went cold.
“What?”
“He said it was paperwork from the company.”
Marcus shook his head.
“She doesn't know what she's talking about.”
“I signed as a witness,” Chloe said.
Everything inside me stopped.
“You witnessed my signature?”
Her eyes filled with something that looked dangerously close to shame.
“I thought it was yours.”
“But you didn't see me sign it.”
“No.”
“Then why did you witness it?”
Marcus interrupted.
“Because none of this happened.”
Reeves slid another page across the table.
There it was.
Chloe Vance.
Witness.
Her signature.
And above it—
mine.
Except I had never written it.
Julian looked at me.
“Evelyn?”
“That's not my signature.”
Marcus stood again.
“This conversation is over.”
Reeves closed the folder.
“You're free to leave.”
Marcus hesitated.
He hadn't expected that.
Then Reeves added:
“But you should probably speak with counsel before tomorrow morning.”
“Why tomorrow?”
Reeves looked at him.
“Because that's when the complete forensic report goes to the transaction committee.”
Marcus stared at Julian.
“You can't allow that.”
Julian's voice remained even.
“I've recused myself from decisions involving evidence supplied by my wife.”
“You control Rhodes Capital.”
“I also employ people whose job is to prevent me from abusing that control.”
Marcus's face twisted.
“You think you're better than me?”
“No.”
Julian glanced at me.
“I think she deserved better than you.”
Marcus left.
Chloe didn't follow.
The door slammed.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Chloe sat down.
“I need to tell you something.”
I looked at her.
“About the affair?”
“No.”
“About the account?”
“No.”
Her hands were shaking.
“About the night you caught me in your kitchen.”
That surprised me.
“What about it?”
She looked toward the door Marcus had just walked through.
Then back at me.
“He wanted you to catch us.”
I felt the room tilt.
“What?”
“I didn't know that at first.”
“You were barefoot in my kitchen wearing his shirt.”
“I know.”
“You expect me to believe that was accidental?”
“No.”
She wiped her palms against her dress.
“I’m saying Marcus planned the timing.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Chloe.”
“I swear.”
She looked genuinely frightened now.
“He called me that afternoon. Told me you were staying late at work. Told me to come over.”
“I wasn't staying late.”
“I know that now.”
My breathing slowed.
Marcus knew exactly when I would arrive home.
He had texted me that afternoon asking whether I wanted takeout.
He knew.
Chloe continued.
“When you walked in, he barely reacted.”
I remembered.
She was right.
I had screamed.
Chloe had panicked.
Marcus hadn't.
He had simply looked annoyed.
As though I had interrupted something.
“He wanted the marriage to end quickly,” Chloe whispered.
“Why?”
“I think you were getting too close to something.”
The transactions.
My questions.
The shrinking savings.
My professional instincts.
Julian sat beside me.
Reeves opened his folder again.
“There’s another issue.”
He placed a timeline on the table.
The false account had been opened eleven days before I discovered the affair.
Several Mercer Dynamics transfers had gone into it.
Then, three days after I filed for divorce, the money disappeared.
“How much?” I asked.
Reeves answered.
“Just over three million dollars.”
I stared at him.
“In my name?”
“Yes.”
“Where did it go?”
“We're still tracing it.”
Chloe whispered, “Marcus told me you took money.”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
“He said that's why the divorce had to happen fast. He said you had been moving company money and that he was protecting himself.”
A strange laugh escaped me.
For years, Marcus had told people I had disappeared because I couldn't handle the divorce.
Perhaps there had been another reason for that story.
If anyone ever found the account, the narrative was already waiting.
Evelyn stole money.
Evelyn disappeared.
Evelyn had access to financial records.
Evelyn was a compliance attorney who knew exactly how transfers worked.
It was almost elegant.
Almost.
Reeves's phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His expression sharpened.
“What?”
He turned the phone toward us.
A hotel security image.
A man walking down a service corridor.
Older than I remembered.
Gray hair.
But unmistakable.
Peter Lang.
“He's still inside the hotel,” Reeves said.
Then another message arrived.
Reeves read it.
“Security found something.”
“What?”
“A package.”
“Where?”
He looked directly at me.
“Outside your hotel room.”
Julian stood.
We went upstairs with hotel security.
Room 814.
Our door was closed.
A brown envelope rested against it.
My name was written across the front.
EVELYN.
Julian stopped me from touching it.
Security collected it and brought it to a private room.
Inside was a flash drive.
And one handwritten note.
I recognized the handwriting.
Peter's.
IF MARCUS KNOWS YOU HAVE THE ORIGINAL DRIVE, YOU ARE NOT SAFE TRUSTING HIS VERSION OF THE PAST.
Below that was another sentence.
ASK CHLOE WHAT SHE DID AT 11:47 P.M.
I looked at Chloe.
Her face collapsed.
“No.”
“What happened at 11:47?”
She backed toward the door.
“Chloe.”
“I can't.”
Reeves stepped forward.
“What happened?”
Tears filled her eyes.
She looked directly at me.
“I changed something.”
“What?”
“Five years ago.”
My pulse thundered.
“What did you change?”
Chloe opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, her phone rang.
She looked down.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then her face went white.
She slowly held the phone away from her ear.
A man's voice was still speaking.
May you like
And every person in the room heard the same five words.
“Don't tell Evelyn what happened.”
