PART 3: The Four-Month Setup
Chloe gasped, dropping her designer handbag as the officers stepped forward, immediately pulling her hands behind her back and clicking handcuffs over her manicured red nails.
“Daniel, do something!” Chloe shrieked, her cool composure entirely shattering into frantic screams. “Tell them!”
“Wait! There’s a mistake!” Daniel stuttered, turning pale as paper. “She’s just a guest! She didn’t do anything!”
“Oh, she didn’t act alone,” Investigator Miller replied, opening his leather briefcase and pulling out a thick stack of legal documents. “The missing funds were transferred directly from your executive account while you were aboard the vessel. And according to company protocol, those transfers required high-level authorization.”
Daniel froze. “I… I gave her my master keycard and authorization codes… she said she was managing my offshore investments…”
I took a slow step forward, looking Daniel dead in the eye with a calm, razor-sharp smile.
“Did you really think I spent four months at home just crying and folding onesies, Daniel?” I asked softly.
The color completely drained from his face as the realization hit him like a freight train.
“You see,” I continued, “when you left me on emergency bed rest with newborn triplets to go on a four-month party cruise, your company’s board of directors became very concerned about your sudden absence. Since I hold legal power of attorney over all our shared assets and your corporate emergency proxy—which you signed last year—they called me when the first suspicious transfer cleared.”
