Chapter 10 - The Last Entry
The cold metal of the car door scraped against my shoulder as I was dragged out onto the dusty gravel of the rail yard.
The wind whipped across the open expanse, carrying the sharp scent of rusted iron and stagnant river water. Julian stepped out behind me, adjusting his cashmere coat with immaculate precision as the burly driver twisted my arm behind my back just enough to remind me who held the physical advantage.
"Last chance, Eleanor," Julian said, pulling a folded paper and a golden fountain pen from his breast pocket. "Sign the transfer over to my holding company, and I'll drop the charges against Daniel. You can spend your remaining years in a quiet little apartment by the coast."
I stood tall, refusing to let my knees buckle against the rough gravel, keeping my breathing even and controlled.
"Julian," I said, my voice carrying a strange, eerie calm that made the driver hesitate for a fraction of a second. "Did you ever wonder why I recorded every word you said inside that car?"
Julian’s eyes narrowed instantly. "What?"
I pulled my right hand free from the driver's grip with a sharp, practiced twist—a self-defense technique my late husband had insisted I learn after the Bellweather trial—and held up the digital recorder, its small red LED light blinking rhythmically in the gray afternoon light.
"Live-streamed to a secure cloud server managed by the federal prosecutor's office," I said, smiling faintly as the distant wail of police sirens began to echo across the industrial park. "With GPS coordinates broadcasting our exact location since we left the courthouse steps."
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Julian’s face went completely bloodless. "You bitch—"
"You made two mistakes today, Julian," I said, stepping back as three unmarked black SUVs tore through the gravel gate with their emergency lights flashing blue and red. "First, you underestimated an old woman. And second, you forgot that when a forensic accountant audits a thief, she doesn't just look at the numbers. She sets the trap before she ever walks into the room."
