Chapter 8
While Clara sat in the interrogation room, Julianne was being discharged from St. Jude’s emergency ward into the care of a private nurse hired by Marcus Sterling. Julianne’s right leg was encased in a striking blue fiberglass cast, her toes poking out the end, looking fragile and vulnerable. Yet, as she settled into the wheelchair provided by the hospital, her phone buzzed incessantly in her lap with encrypted messages from an overseas server.
Marcus was waiting by the sliding glass exit doors, holding a pair of polished aluminum crutches. His face was pale, the earlier composure replaced by a tight, nervous energy.
"The police are looking into the routing numbers," Marcus whispered urgently as he leaned down to help Julianne into a standing position. "Clara must have taken copies from the folder before I locked it. Miller is running a secondary audit with the federal bureau as we speak."
Julianne winced as she put weight on her good leg, leaning her full body weight onto Marcus’s shoulder. "She’s always been too clever for her own good," Julianne hissed under her breath, her green eyes flashing with malice. "Did Julian secure the final transfer from the Swiss account?"
"It’s pending verification," Marcus replied, guiding her carefully toward the idling black sedan parked at the curb. "But if the authorities freeze the primary trust before the transfer clears, we are all exposed. Julian is panicked; he wants to cut ties and leave us to handle the fallout here."
Julianne stopped, gripping Marcus’s arm so hard her fingernails dug through his suit jacket. "Cut ties? After everything I sacrificed? After I spent two years playing the neglected sister while he set up this entire charade? If Julian thinks he can leave me holding the bag while he sits in a chalet in the Alps, he is sorely mistaken."
"What do you propose we do?" Marcus asked, opening the car door and helping her into the passenger seat.
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"We go back to the estate," Julianne said, her voice dropping to a chillingly calm register. "We activate the secondary server logs. There is footage from the library angle that Julian didn't want the police to see—footage of Marcus meeting with Julian to draft the fraudulent asset transfer. If Miller is going to tear down our house, we make sure it buries all of us equally."
Marcus stared at her for a long moment, the color draining entirely from his face, before he slowly closed the car door and walked around to the driver's side.
