Of course he had.
Not because he wanted us to speak. Because he had probably shown Melanie carefully selected messages from me, curated proof of the wife he had invented.
“Send it,” I said.
“And Anne?”
“What?”
“Check your joint account again.”
My eyes opened.
“Why?”
“Because the wire request Lucas scheduled might already be pending.”
I ended the call without saying goodbye and ran back to the study.
The banking site asked me to log in again.
My fingers were less steady now.
Password.
Security code.
Account summary.
For one merciful second, the balance still read $720,000.00.
Then I clicked into activity.
There it was.
Pending transfer: $350,000.00
Scheduled for processing at 5:00 p.m.
Recipient: Desert Horizon Property Holdings.
My ears began to ring.
Not the full amount.
Not yet.
Just enough for a down payment, perhaps. Or furniture. Or a business account.
