Chapter 4 - THE MISSING RING
I stared through the peephole, my breath catching in my throat.
Arthur Vance looked older, his hair completely gray, but his posture was rigid and deliberate. He held up his hand toward the peephole, dangling a silver chain from his fingers. Hanging from the chain was my diamond wedding ring—the one I thought I had lost at a construction site three months ago.
I unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the door open just an inch, keeping the chain fastened.
“How did you find me?” I whispered, glancing nervously back at Emma, who was fast asleep.
“Your mother,” Arthur said softly, his voice gravelly. “She hired me as a private investigator before she died. She knew Michael was siphoning funds, but she didn't have enough time left to prove it. She told me to keep an eye on you. When Derek’s truck was spotted at the house tonight, I followed you here.”
“And the ring?” I asked, staring at the diamond.
Arthur’s eyes softened with pity. “Michael didn't lose this, Laura. He gave it to someone else. I took it back tonight from her nightstand while she was sleeping.”
He slipped the folder and the ring through the crack in the door. “Let me in, Laura. We don't have much time. Michael is accelerating his timeline.”
I unhooked the chain and let him in. Arthur immediately pulled the curtains tight and turned on the small desk lamp.
I opened the manila folder. Inside were dozens of surveillance photographs. Pictures of Michael entering a luxury downtown apartment. Pictures of Michael holding hands across a dinner table with a beautiful, much younger woman.
But it wasn't just any woman.
It was Chloe. The twenty-four-year-old paralegal who handled the company's contract notarizations.
“She’s the notary,” I gasped, the puzzle pieces slamming violently together. “That’s how he forged the $240,000 loan. That’s how he forged the deed to my mother’s house. Chloe illegally notarized my forged signatures.”
“Exactly,” Arthur nodded. “Michael and Chloe have been together for two years. He promised her he would leave you, but a standard divorce meant splitting his construction company with you since you were the CFO.”
“So he decided to bankrupt the company and put the debt in my name,” I realized, feeling physically sick.
“Worse,” Arthur corrected. “If he bankrupts the company, you can still fight him in court. But if you were out of the picture permanently… he collects a $1.5 million life insurance policy, Derek gets the luxury condos built on your mother’s land, and Michael starts a new life with Chloe.”
I looked at the safety deposit box key I had found earlier. “My mother said you had the real books. The proof.”
Arthur pointed to the key. “That key opens a box at First National. Inside is a physical flash drive containing unalterable backups of the company ledgers from the last five years. I’ve been downloading them remotely through a backdoor your mother paid me to install before she passed. It proves Michael has been embezzling corporate funds into offshore accounts.”
“Then we go to the police,” I said firmly. “Tomorrow morning.”
Arthur shook his head. “The bank doesn't open until 9:00 AM. By then, Michael will have realized you have the lockbox from the house. He’ll report you to the police for kidnapping Emma, claiming you had a mental breakdown. He’s already laying the groundwork.”
I pulled my phone out. I had fourteen missed calls. Six from Michael, two from my mother-in-law, and four from the local police precinct.
“He called the cops,” I whispered, panic rising in my chest.
“He’s painting you as an unstable, dangerous mother,” Arthur said grimly. “If the police find you before you get that flash drive, they’ll hand Emma straight back to Michael. You need to get into the company office tonight.”
“Why? You said the flash drive is at the bank.”
“The flash drive proves the embezzlement,” Arthur explained. “But it doesn't prove the forgery. The original forged loan documents with Chloe’s notary stamp are locked in Michael’s office safe. We need the physical papers to prove he used her to steal your identity. If he destroys those originals, it’s his word against yours.”
I looked at Emma sleeping peacefully on the bed. I couldn't leave her here alone, but I couldn't bring her to the office.
“I’ll stay with her,” Arthur offered gently. “I promise you, Laura, no one gets through this door except you.”
I grabbed my car keys. I knew the security codes to the office. I knew where Michael hid the backup key to his safe. I had built that company alongside him. Tonight, I was going to tear it down.
I arrived at the corporate office building at 3:15 AM. The parking lot was empty.
I bypassed the front door, slipping through the loading dock entrance using my master keypad code. The warehouse was pitch black, smelling of sawdust and machine oil.
I crept silently up the metal stairs to the executive suites. Michael’s office was at the end of the hall.
I pushed the door open. I went straight for the heavy oak bookshelf, pulling down a copy of the building codes. Behind it was the wall safe. I punched in his birthday—he was too arrogant to ever change it.
Click.
The safe hissed open.
Inside were stacks of cash and two thick manila envelopes. I grabbed both, shoving them into my jacket.
Suddenly, the overhead fluorescent lights snapped on, blinding me.
“I told Michael you were predictable.”
I spun around.
Standing in the doorway was my mother-in-law, Eleanor.
And standing behind her were two large men wearing construction boots and heavy jackets.
Eleanor smiled coldly, holding up a small, familiar object in her hand.
May you like
It was Emma’s favorite pink hair ribbon. The one she had been wearing when she went to sleep at the motel.
“Did you really think Arthur Vance was trying to help you?” Eleanor laughed. “Arthur has been on our payroll for three years, Laura.”
