Chapter 2 - The Account Jason Thought No One Would Trace
Adrian Moretti did not invite Catherine into the black car.
That was the first thing she remembered later.
He did not tell her she was coming with him. He did not put a hand at her back or make one of those quiet commands men like Jason used when they wanted control to sound like courtesy.
He simply looked at her and said, “You should call your attorney.”
Catherine blinked. “That’s it?”
“For now.”
Jason stood several feet away, furious and pale.
“This is ridiculous.”
Adrian ignored him.
Catherine took out her phone.
Jason stepped forward. “Catherine, don’t.”
Adrian’s head turned.
The warning in that movement was enough.
Jason stopped.
Catherine called Daniel Brooks.
He answered on the second ring.
“Tell me you did not sign anything.”
“I didn’t.”
“Good.”
“I’m with Adrian Moretti.”
A short silence.
“Why?”
Catherine looked at the coffee dripping from Adrian’s cuff.
“I spilled cold brew on him.”
Daniel exhaled. “Of course you did.”
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
Then she explained what Adrian had said.
Daniel’s tone changed immediately.
“Do not discuss financial details without me present.”
Adrian heard him.
“Good attorney,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Put me on speaker.”
Catherine did.
Daniel asked exactly what Adrian meant by Jason moving money through one of his companies.
Adrian’s answer was precise.
“A subsidiary of Moretti Logistics was used as a pass-through vendor on three consulting payments. The invoices were falsified. My compliance team flagged them yesterday.”
“How much?”
“Eight hundred and forty thousand.”
Catherine felt the sidewalk shift beneath her.
Jason laughed sharply. “That has nothing to do with Catherine.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Then why is her business line of credit listed as collateral on one transfer?”
Catherine stared at Jason.
He looked away.
Daniel said, “Catherine, go home. Do not return to the apartment if Jason has access.”
“It’s my apartment.”
“I know. But until we know what he has done, treat this as evidence and safety, not pride.”
Adrian said, “I can have someone wait nearby until she gets inside.”
Catherine’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t need guards.”
“No,” he said. “You need choices.”
That answer disarmed her.
She hated that.
Jason tried one more time.
“Catherine, this man is using you to get to me.”
Adrian’s mouth curved slightly.
“If I wanted to get to you, Jason, I would not need your wife.”
Allison finally spoke.
“Jason, what is he talking about?”
Jason snapped, “Stay out of this.”
Catherine turned toward her.
For the first time that evening, Allison looked genuinely afraid.
“What did he tell you?” Catherine asked.
Allison hesitated.
Jason cut in. “Don’t answer her.”
Catherine laughed without humor.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“You always answer for women when the truth might inconvenience you.”
Allison looked at Jason.
Something shifted in her face.
Catherine called a car.
She did not accept Adrian’s.
She did allow one of his security men to follow in another vehicle after Daniel insisted.
Her apartment was exactly as she had left it that morning.
Except Jason’s closet was half empty.
He had packed before dinner.
The humiliation had been staged after the exit plan was complete.
Catherine stood in the bedroom doorway and looked at the empty hangers.
Then she cried.
Not loudly.
Not beautifully.
She sat on the floor in her green dress and cried until her makeup came off against the heel of her hand.
At eleven thirty, Daniel arrived.
He brought takeout.
He also brought a forensic accountant named Maya Chen.
Maya wore jeans, sneakers, and the expression of someone who had never been impressed by expensive stationery.
She opened Catherine’s copied bank records at the dining table.
“Show me the missing twenty thousand.”
Catherine did.
Maya traced the withdrawals. Then the business credit line. Then a payment to something called North Quay Advisory.
“That name appears on Moretti’s compliance report,” Daniel said.
Maya looked up.
“So Jason used Catherine’s credit to fund a fake vendor connected to Moretti Logistics.”
“Possibly.”
Catherine folded her arms. “What happens if it’s true?”
Daniel answered first. “Civil claims.”
Maya added, “Potential criminal exposure.”
“And the divorce?”
Daniel looked at her. “Changes.”
“How?”
“If Jason concealed assets, forged authorization, or dissipated marital funds, the settlement he offered tonight becomes evidence of bad faith.”
At midnight, Adrian called Daniel.
Not Catherine.
Another point in his favor.
Daniel put the call on speaker.
Adrian’s compliance team had found a fourth transfer.
This one was larger.
One point two million.
The receiving company was owned by a Delaware LLC.
Maya searched the public record.
The beneficial owner was hidden.
But the registered agent appeared on another company Catherine knew.
Allison Reed Interiors.
Catherine went still.
“No.”
Maya rotated the laptop.
Allison’s company had received three deposits over four months from a consulting firm linked to Jason.
Total: three hundred sixty thousand dollars.
Catherine sat back.
“She told me her business was finally taking off.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
Adrian’s voice came through the phone.
“Did she know where the money came from?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then don’t assume.”
Catherine looked at the speaker.
That surprised her.
A man with a reputation built on ruthless certainty was reminding her not to jump to conclusions.
Maya continued searching.
At 12:43 a.m., she found something else.
A property filing.
The apartment Catherine inherited had been referenced in a private lending document.
Not transferred. Not yet. But pledged as proposed collateral.
The signature on the preliminary authorization looked like Catherine’s.
It was not.
Daniel went quiet.
Maya zoomed in.
“Your husband was preparing to borrow against the apartment.”
Catherine stared at the screen. “How much?”
“Four million.”
The room seemed to narrow.
Jason had not been trying to divide their life.
He had been trying to leave with everything liquid before she understood what he had touched.
Daniel closed the laptop.
“We file first thing in the morning.”
“For what?”
“Emergency restraints. Asset preservation. Notice to the bank. Notice to the title company.”
Catherine nodded.
Then her phone lit up.
Allison.
One message.
I didn’t know about your apartment.
A second.
Jason told me the money came from investors.
A third.
Please believe me.
Catherine stared at the screen.
Then a fourth message arrived.
There’s something else.
Catherine’s pulse changed.
What?
The reply came immediately.
Jason has a second set of books. I saw them once. He keeps them somewhere he said you would never look.
Catherine called.
Allison did not answer.
Then another text arrived.
Your grandmother’s old storage unit.
Catherine stood so fast her chair moved.
Daniel looked at her. “What?”
She turned the phone toward him.
Her grandmother’s storage unit had been untouched for six years.
Only two people had keys.
Catherine.
And Jason.
Adrian’s voice was still on speaker.
“Do not go there tonight.”
Catherine looked at the phone.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
She grabbed her coat.
Daniel stared. “What are you doing?”
“Planning to go there tonight.”
Maya rubbed both hands over her face.
Adrian said, “Mrs. Bennett.”
Catherine picked up her purse. “Mr. Moretti.”
“If Jason kept records there, he may know Allison told you.”
“Then I should get there first.”
“No. Police should.”
“On what warrant?”
Silence.
Daniel stood. “At minimum, I’m coming.”
“So am I,” Maya said.
Adrian said, “Send me the address.”
Catherine froze. “Why?”
“Because North Quay rented a unit in the same building last year.”
The coincidence was too precise to be coincidence.
Then Adrian said the sentence that changed the entire night.
“Jason did not hide his second books in your grandmother’s storage unit because he thought you would never look there.”
May you like
Catherine’s skin went cold.
“He hid them there because he thought if they were found, you would be blamed.”
