Moments of Julian (23 page)

“
Gretchen knows
everything,” I say, feeling sick. “Oh my… Julian, what if it was
her that framed me?” I can hardly process the thought. I’m
sometimes harsh on her, but I love Gretchen. We’ve gone through so
much at work together. Could she really betray me like
this?

“
I’ve heavily considered
it,” Julian says, turning somber eyes on me. “I’m going to do some
snooping around at Digit, see what I can find. I’ll catch whoever
did this to you, Sage.”

I feel numb and betrayed as I nod my
head. Julian calls for a cab and I text Kale that he can come pick
me up now.

Five minutes later I give Julian an
absentminded kiss goodbye. He and Kale load my bags into the trunk,
and then I am headed back to a home I am suddenly afraid I might
lose.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

I crash hard as soon as I get home. I
shower, knot my hair in a wet bun at the top of my head, slip into
an oversized shirt of Kale’s I stole a year ago, and collapse into
bed.

My dreams are dark and twisted and
disturbing.

When I wake, it is seven in the
morning. I’ve slept a full fifteen hours.

The house is just starting to get
light and things are quiet. I open the curtains so I can look out
over the lake. I climb back into bed and pull my knees to my
chest.

I’ve been fired from Digit. Until this
moment, I haven’t really taken any time to process that. I no
longer work at Digit Securities. I’ve invested the last five years
of my life into that company, put my heart and soul into it.
Working there is a part of my very identity. And that part of me
has just been severed.

My goal for the past year has been to
become its CEO. And now I no longer even work there.

What now?

I grab my laptop from my nightstand
and open it up. I pull up my banks website and type in my login
information.

Access to this account has
been temporarily locked. If you need further assistance, call this
number.

Great. I can’t even get into my own
bank account right now. And I have little doubt I won’t be able to
access any of my credit or debit cards for the time
either.

I am financially screwed for however
long it takes to sort this mess out. I have maybe fifty dollars in
cash. Suddenly I’m mentally calculating how much gas is in my car,
how much food is in the pantry.

I haven’t had to worry about money
since my sophomore year in college.

I’m not enjoying the reenactment of
history.

So I’m going to make whoever has done
this to me pay.

I roll out of bed and head for my
closet. For the first time in probably two years at least, I put on
a pair of jean shorts and a black tank top. To top it all off, I
put on my running shoes. I let my hair out of the bun and it falls
around my face in soft waves. A small bit of makeup tops it
off.

My phone rings and I dart across my
bedroom to answer it by the third ring.

“
Julian,” I say, my voice
keyed up.

“
Someone opened an account
under your name the day before yesterday. It’s an off shore
account,” he starts explaining in a hurried voice. “The exact same
amount that was transferred into your real account is in that
account. Except this morning it doubled.”

I swear under my breath and my fingers
knot in my hair. “Okay, so this should at least prove it wasn’t me.
How could I set up that account when I have an alibi of being in
China?”

“
Sage,” Julian says, his
voice tired and breathy. “I just said it was an
off shore
account. You were
in China
. It looks like
you set it up while you were there, and then stole millions from
Ling Enterprises.”

“
Then I’m screwed?” I say
as I sink onto the bed.

“
This doesn’t look good,”
Julian says and I can almost see him shake his head. “I’ve told the
FBI that I was with you for every hour except about 8 while we were
there, but like Rodriguez said, they can’t take much of what I say
seriously since we’re involved.”

“
Has there been any
activity on that other account yet?” I ask as I rub the back of my
neck with my other hand.

“
It lit up like a flare
this morning,” Julian says. “They haven’t been able to freeze this
one yet so whoever has access to it is going nuts this morning. A
boat has been purchased, some real estate that we haven’t learned
the location of yet, and twenty thousand in cash was withdrawn.
Sage, the FBI is on their way to your house right now. They’re
going to arrest you.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and my mind
betrays me. It goes blank and numb.

“
Hold up,” Julian suddenly
says, his voice growing in excitement. “Another charge just went
through. It’s for a dealership here in Bellevue, a hundred and
twenty thousand dollars. Sage, it takes time to buy a car. We could
catch them if we get there right now.”

“
What dealership?” I
demand as I jump up from the bed and start looking for my things. I
pound on Kale’s door and he sleepily grunts from within.

“
The Mercedes, but Sage,
when I said we, I did not in any sense mean you,” Julian’s voice
sounds panicky. “I want you to stay away from that dealership, if
you’re caught there, it is not going to help you.”

“
I want to see who did
this to me, face to face,” I growl and hang up. “Kale! I need your
help! Get dressed!”

I am dialing even as I yell at Kale
again and hold the phone up to my ear. “Lake? How fast can you
drive? I need your help.”

Ten minutes later, Kale and I peel
into the parking lot of the dealership. Just as we start walking
toward the building, I see Dad’s car fishtail around the corner and
stop right in front of the doors. Lake scrambles out and the look
on his face would be enough to make me run away with my tail
between my legs.

“
There’s a good chance
they might still be here,” I growl as Kale holds the door open and
we plow inside.

There are salesmen looking at us with
hesitation, knowing they should sic us and ask what we’d be
interested in test driving today, but I am quite sure we look far
from approachable. I head straight for the office at the
back.

There is a man writing something on a
whiteboard on the wall. He’s just finished writing the final sale
amount along the line that says a make and model and my
name.

“
I am the real Sage McCain
and you just sold a car to a fraud,” I say as I get up in his face.
He looks annoyed at first, but then he sees both my brothers behind
me. “I want to know who it was you sold it to and where they
are.”

“
Mr. and Mrs. McCain ran
to the restroom before they head out. Their new car is being
detailed right now before they go.”

Lake spins on his heal and he and Kale
both tear out of the office.

“
What…what is going on?”
the manager stutters.

“
You’re just about to be
under investigation for selling a car to someone with a stolen
identity and stolen money,” I hiss as I start dialing. But before I
can complete the call, I hear sirens in the distance.

Suddenly there are shouts and a loud
crashing sound. I dart out of the office and head for the source of
the noise.

Someone falls backward out of the
men’s restroom and there is blood spraying across the tile floor.
Lake erupts from the door as well and is on top of whomever he just
tossed. He gathers the front of the man’s suit and brings his face
very close.

“
You will admit to all
this and get my sister out of this mess,” Lake hisses.

“
Corbin?” I
breathe.

His head whips in my direction just as
Kale comes out of the women’s restroom, a tall, stick-thin blond
woman in front of him. She has her hands held up and there is
terror in her eyes.

“
You set me up?” I hiss.
The sirens are here now and suddenly the doors are flooded with
bodies. I turn and see both Agent Rodriguez and Fowler crowding
inside, followed by a dozen police officers. And then Julian bursts
through the door.

“
Why would you do this to
me?” I demand as Lake holds onto Corbin Matters. Blood is running
from his nose and he’s got a gash on the back of his head. “What
have I ever done to you?”

“
As if you don’t know,”
Corbin hisses. “Don’t pretend you don’t know Gideon was going to
fire me and make you CEO the moment you got home from making that
deal in China. I was about to lose everything because of your
ambition.”

“
There better be some
quick explaining going on here,” Agent Rodriguez
demands.

I stand there stunned and silent for a
minute. Mr. Maxwell really was going to make me CEO. It was finally
going to happen and then Corbin came and screwed me
over.

Suddenly my nerves are electric and
the only thing keeping me from physically hurting the lowlife
before me is Julian’s firm hand on my shoulder.

“
Let them take care of
this the right way,” he breathes.

I glare at Corbin, my jaw clenching
and unclenching. Finally, I spit in his direction.
“Congratulations. Now you’ve lost everything, and you’re going to
jail.”

Everyone who was in the dealership was
taken to the police station. The manager and the salesman confirmed
that Corbin and his girlfriend posed as Mr. and Mrs. Sage McCain,
using fake ID’s and purchased the car. The dealerships security
footage was confiscated and reviewed immediately. It didn’t take
too much effort to trace the charges to the fake off shore account
set up in my name.

I sit in a chair in the lobby, my
fists curled into angry balls under my arms. My eyes are fixed on
the desk across the space from me. My teeth absentmindedly chew on
my lower lip.

Corbin is being interrogated right now
and Mr. Maxwell and Gretchen are waiting their turn to be
questioned.

To my left sits Julian. To my right is
Penny Watson.

They’re trying to figure out now how
my information was stolen and who had access to my accounts. Half
the company knew I was in China, so there is a huge possibility
that Corbin was not working alone.

“
Five hundred thousand
dollars was just transferred out of the off shore account,” one of
the FBI agents declares. “Can we trace where it is going
to?”

I sit up straight and watch as the
agents flip into a flurry of activity.

“
So there is someone else
involved in this,” Julian sighs. “Since Corbin obviously can’t
transfer anything right now.”

“
That clears Mr. Maxwell
and Gretchen, right?” I ask, looking over at him.

“
Not necessarily,” Julian
says. “Gideon could have someone working for him.”

“
Why would Mr. Maxwell
steel money from his own clients? He’s got plenty of it himself,” I
say, shaking my head. “He isn’t exactly a poor man.”

“
I know,” Julian says. He
leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. “I get why Corbin
did it. He was about to be fired. But who else is in on
this?”

“
And don’t forget, someone
who hacked the Blue Wall is in on this too.”

Suddenly, Julian stands and walks over
to everyone that is furiously trying to figure out where the money
is going to. He talks to them hurriedly and in a low voice. One of
the agents nods, and then Julian turns and comes back to his
seat.

“
I hope you’re not saying
anything that will get us in trouble,” Penny says as she stares
Julian down.

“
I suggested that maybe
they are looking in the wrong place,” Julian says. His right knee
bounces up and down quickly. “What they really need to be focusing
on is who has the ability to steal all this money. Because right
now, none of Digit’s clients are safe.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY

We are at the station all day. They
clear my name. They unfreeze my account and transfer all the money
that had been placed in it back to the rightful companies and
banks. The charges against me are dropped.

Mr. Maxwell is cleared as well. His
hands have been proven clean.

But Gretchen is still under heavy
heat.

I do not want to believe she could
have set me up like this. We’ve been a solid team for the past
three years. She’s never once complained about working for me. And
while I expect a lot out of her, I reward her well. Have I been
blind and not treated her fairly? Suddenly I am reviewing the past
three years.

I don’t want to think it was Gretchen.
But she does have access to everything in my life. She knows my
account numbers. She knows my passwords. She knows the key to my
home security system. She knows my social security number and date
of birth.

It makes managing my personal and
business life easier when my assistant knows all the important
details. But I am now realizing just how vulnerable that has made
me.