My voice was calm, cutting through the ambient hubbub of the restaurant like a knife.
James jumped so violently that he almost knocked over his glass of wine. Elena sat up, her face lit up first by surprise, then – strangely – by a wry smile.
« Ava! » James jumped up. He looked terrible. His face was pale, his eyes ringed with red. « What… what are you doing here? »
“I got a tip,” I said, looking at Elena. “Someone thought I should see how hard you’re ‘working’.”
« Mrs. Calloway, » Elena said sweetly. She didn’t look guilty, but triumphant. « You shouldn’t be here. This is a private business dinner. »
« That seems very private, » I said, pointing to where his hand had just been on my husband’s face. « And very personal. »
« Ava, please, » James begged, walking around the table to take my hand. « It’s not what you think. Please go home. I’ll explain everything later. »
« Explain what? » I retorted sharply, pulling away. « That you’re sleeping with your assistant while your wife is hanging around at home? »
« I’m not sleeping with her! » James shouted. A few customers turned around. He lowered his voice. « Damn it, Ava… If only it were that simple… »
I froze. « What? »
Elena laughed. She sat down, crossed her legs, and took a sip of Margaux. « Tell him, James. Otherwise, I will. »
James looked at me, his eyes filled with suffering. « Ava… she’s not my mistress. »
« So, what is she? »
« She’s the one who makes me sing, » James murmured.
Chapter 4: The Big Book
I stared at them. The sounds from the restaurant faded away. « Pardon? »
« Please sit down, Mrs. Calloway, » Elena said, gesturing to the empty chair. « Perhaps you should hear this. It concerns your future. And the baby trust fund. »
I sat down. Not because she asked me to, but because my legs gave way.
« Explain yourself, » I said to James.
James slumped back in his chair. « Three months ago, Calloway Tech suffered a security breach. Data was lost. I… I covered it up to prevent the stock price from collapsing before the quarterly results. It was illegal. It was fraud. »
« And I found the trail, » Elena said cheerfully. « I have the emails, the altered logs, the bank transfers. If I release them, James will go to federal prison for ten to fifteen years. The company’s stock will be worthless. Your assets will be frozen. »
She leaned forward. « So, we were in the middle of negotiations. The hug you saw? That was me comforting him after I told him about the price increase. »
« The price? » I asked.
« Ten million dollars, » Elena said. « Bank transfer. Tonight. To an offshore account. Otherwise, I’ll send the file to the SEC and the FBI tomorrow morning. »
James looked at me, dejected. « I was going to pay, Ava. I was signing the transfer on my phone when you arrived. I… I couldn’t let you and the baby lose everything. I couldn’t go to prison and ruin his life. »
I looked at James. He was a brilliant engineer, but a terrible criminal. He panicked.
Then I looked at Elena. She was jubilant. She thought she had won. She fancied herself the predator at the table.
She didn’t know who I was.
Before I was Ava Calloway, the stay-at-home philanthropist, I was Ava Thorne. Senior forensic accountant in the District Attorney’s office. I dismantled cartels. I traced money for the Mafia. I retired because I wanted a quiet life, not because I’d lost my edge.
A slow smile appeared on my face.
« Ten million, » I repeated. « That’s a considerable sum, Elena. »
« That’s the price of freedom, » she said, shrugging her shoulders.
« James, » I said, turning to my husband. « Put your phone away. »
« Ava, we must… »
« Put it away. » My voice cracked like a whip.
James obeyed, looking perplexed.
I turned to Elena. « So, if I understand correctly, you hacked into her private server to get those logs? »
« I’m a resourceful assistant, » she said with a sly smile.
“Hacking a secure server is a federal crime,” I pointed out. “Blackmail is another. Cross-border extortion… falls under the RICO Act.”
« Only if you catch me, » Elena laughed. « And you won’t catch me. Because James is guilty. If he reports me, he’ll turn himself in. »
« That’s true, » I agreed. I rummaged in my bag. I didn’t take out my checkbook. I took out my phone.
« You know, Elena, » I said playfully, « James is careless with his passwords. You’re right about that. But I’m not. »
I tapped the screen.
« When James hired you, I conducted a background check. Standard procedure for anyone close to the family. You have nothing to report. Elena Ross. Stanford graduate. »
Elena’s smile faded slightly.
“But then,” I continued, “I dug deeper. Because nobody is completely blameless. And it turns out that Elena Ross died in a car accident four years ago.”
James looked up. « What? »
« You, » I said, pointing at the blonde, « are actually Jessica Miller. A college dropout with a history of credit card fraud in Florida and Nevada. »
Jessica’s face paled.
« And here’s the most interesting part, » I said, leaning towards him. « You didn’t just hack James. You caused the breach. You installed the malware on his laptop three months ago. I noticed a spike in traffic on our home network. I traced it back to a remote IP address. Yours. »
« You… you can’t prove it, » she stammered.
“I’ve done it before,” I said. “While I was eating pickles and watching Friends, my former colleagues from the cybercrime unit were monitoring the spyware I’d installed on James’s devices weeks ago. I knew someone was trying to frame him. I just didn’t know it was you until your call tonight.”
« Did you know? » James murmured.
“I suspected as much,” I corrected. “But the call confirmed it. You were greedy, Jessica. You also wanted to humiliate me. You wanted me to discover this ‘affair’ so I would divorce him, isolating him even more so you could ruin him.”
I held up my phone. The screen displayed a live audio recording application.
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