Chapter 3: Every Phone in the Room
I looked up from my phone screen.
Eleven people were still sitting at that table.
Some were staring at their plates.
Some were watching me.
Daniel hadn't moved.
Vivian's jaw was tight.
Caroline was pressing her fingers against her mouth like she was trying to hold something in.
I turned my phone around so Daniel could see the notification.
"Someone in this room just tried to move another $200,000 out of my account."
Nobody spoke.
"I'm going to ask one more time." I kept my voice level.
"Who has access to my banking credentials?"
Vivian's brother, Richard, shifted in his seat.
"Now, Emma, let's not turn this into an accusation—"
"Richard." I looked at him.
"Your niece's name is on a forged notarization.
Your nephew just admitted he planned to st3al from his wife and return it before she noticed.
This is already an accusation.
I'm just waiting to find out how many names belong on it."
Richard closed his mouth.
I called the bank back from the table.
I didn't step away.
I put it on speaker.
"This is Emma Mercer.
I need the second transfer blocked immediately and the account frozen to outgoing transactions.
Yes.
Right now.
I'll hold."
The hold music was the only sound in the room.
Daniel pulled out his own phone.
I watched him type something.
Across the table, Caroline's phone lit up.
She read whatever he sent and looked away from me.
"Put it face-down," I said.
She looked up.
"Your phone.
Face-down on the table."
She set it down slowly.
The bank came back on the line.
The transfer had been blocked.
The account was frozen.
They asked if I wanted to file a fraud report.
"Yes," I said.
"I do."
Vivian stood up.
"Emma, you are making a scene in front of this entire family—"
"Sit down, Vivian."
She didn't sit.
But she stopped talking.
The fraud officer asked for the details.
I gave them clearly, one by one, while everyone at the table listened.
The date of the first transfer.
The amount.
The name of the receiving entity.
The forged notarization on the condo.
The second transfer attempt, flagged eleven minutes ago.
When I finished, the officer said someone would contact me within twenty-four hours and that I should not allow any further access to the accounts.
"I've already revoked it," I said.
I ended the call.
Daniel was still standing.
His face had gone the color of old paper.
"Emma," he said quietly.
"Can we please talk about this privately?"
"We are talking about it.
Right here."
"This isn't—" He stopped.
Started again.
"There are things you don't understand about the situation."
"Then explain them to me."
He glanced at his mother.
That single glance told me everything.
"Don't look at her," I said.
"Look at me.
You are my husband.
I am the one who kept this family financially alive for three years.
I am the one whose name is on a forged document.
Look at me and explain."
He couldn't do it.
He stood there in front of his mother and his aunts and his uncle and his sister, and he could not look at me and explain.
Caroline made a small sound.
Not quite a word.
I turned to her.
"What did you want to say?"
"There's something else," she whispered.
"Something you don't know yet."
Vivian's hand came down on the table again.
"Caroline.
Don't."
Caroline flinched.
But she didn't look away from me.
May you like
"There's a third account," she said.
"Emma — there's a third account."
