Chapter 2: Ninety-One Thousand Reasons
**PART 2**
Carolina called me back in less than forty-eight hours.
"Arthur." Her voice was flat.
Careful.
"How much did you know about the second business account?"
"What second account?"
A pause.
"There's a business checking account opened fourteen months ago under Sterling Prime Meats.
Your signature is on the paperwork.
But Arthur…
that is not your signature."
I sat down slowly on the edge of the sofa.
My sofa.
In my house.
"How much?" I asked.
"Just over ninety-one thousand dollars.
Moved in small transfers.
Vendors that don't exist.
A supplier in Miami I can't find any record of."
I didn't speak for a long moment.
"There's something else," Carolina said.
"The salon's second location — the one she's been announcing to clients?
The deposit came from the Sterling account.
Thirty-two thousand.
Transferred the same week Julian signed those papers."
I looked up at the ceiling.
Valeria walked past the doorway just then, laughing into her phone, completely at ease.
She had no idea I was sitting five feet away, listening to everything she had already taken.
"Carolina," I said quietly.
"Don't touch anything yet.
I need to make one call first."
I pulled up a name I hadn't dialed in three years.
My attorney.
---
May you like
What Arthur's lawyer uncovered next put Valeria's entire plan in jeopardy — and exposed a secret Julian had been hiding for over a year.
Click the link below to read the full story.
