Chapter 11 - Before We Met
Daniel read the date again.
"That's impossible."
"Not impossible," Ortiz said. "Deliberate."
I felt suddenly cold.
"How did they know who I was?"
Robert sat down.
That was when I knew he knew the answer.
"Tell her," Daniel said.
Robert rubbed his forehead. "Your firm audited one of our subsidiaries."
I remembered the account. Brightwell Logistics. A boring six-week review that ended with my supervisor telling me to stop asking questions about related-party expenses.
"I found something," I said.
Robert nodded.
"You found a payment chain connected to Horizon Trust."
"My supervisor said it was cleared."
"Because I paid his firm to close the review."
Rage spread through me, slow and clean.
"Then you created a fake account in my name?"
"Evelyn suggested it. A dormant user profile. If the issue ever resurfaced, it would point back to a junior auditor with motive to steal."
Daniel looked sick.
"And then I met her."
Robert closed his eyes.
"Yes."
I laughed because the alternative was screaming.
"So every time Evelyn called me a gold digger..."
"She was afraid of you," Ortiz said.
Evelyn appeared again, now silent.
I turned toward her.
"You hated me before you knew me."
She didn't deny it.
Daniel's voice shook. "Did you ever try to make us break up?"
Evelyn's eyes moved to him.
"I tried to protect you."
"From what? The woman you framed before I even knew her name?"
"From what she could do to this family."
I stepped forward. "No. From what I could discover."
Ortiz's phone buzzed.
She read the message and looked at me.
"Your old supervisor, Thomas Reid, was just found at his office. He's alive, but somebody attacked him."
My breath caught.
"Did he say who?"
"Not yet. But there was a note on his desk."
"What did it say?"
Ortiz turned the phone toward us.
May you like
Four words were written in black marker.
EMMA SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIET.
