Chapter 5 - JULIAN, WHO IS SHE?
Elena Pierce had lost a house after her fiancé disappeared.
Rachel Dunn’s husband died in a hiking accident without a body.
Monica Hale’s business partner vanished after a private plane emergency.
Photographs showed Julian beside each woman under a different name.
He had not only faked one death.
He had built a career from disappearing.
Vanessa stared at the screen.
“He said he grew up in London.”
“He grew up in Ohio.”
“He said his parents died.”
“His mother is alive.”
“He told me he had no family.”
“He meant no one he planned to keep.”
The cruelty of the sentence hurt both of us.
Vanessa left the room briefly.
When she returned, her makeup had been repaired.
Her eyes had not.
She ordered an emergency freeze on every financial permission Julian held.
The hotel’s compliance director found three transfer requests scheduled for Friday.
Total value: $27 million.
Destination: a tourism-development fund in Singapore.
The company did not exist.
Julian had prepared another theft.
Vanessa’s signature appeared on two approvals.
She had signed blank restructuring forms.
He filled them later.
“I trusted him,” she whispered.
“So did I.”
She looked at my uniform.
The difference between us was not intelligence.
Or worth.
Only timing.
Julian reached me before he reached her.
The police released him temporarily because the identity case required formal charges and the financial evidence was still being authenticated.
Hotel security denied him access.
He stood beyond the lobby doors and called Vanessa.
She answered on speaker.
“Come outside,” he said. “I can explain everything.”
“Start with Claire.”
“She is dangerous.”
I stepped into view through the glass.
May you like
Julian’s eyes found me.
Then he said, “Ask her what she did the night of the fire.”
