Chapter 2 - The Five-Million-Dollar Lie
Selena stared into the coffee as if five million dollars might somehow be floating in the foam.
“That’s impossible.”
Dempster remained near the fireplace.
“Unfortunately, it isn’t.”
“Alidoro works in private equity.”
“He steals in private equity.”
She looked up.
Dempster crossed to a mahogany desk and picked up a black leather folder.
He didn’t bring it to her.
He set it on a table halfway between them.
Another deliberate gesture.
Another reminder that she controlled how close he came.
“There are copies inside.”
“Copies of what?”
“Messages. Loan documents. Wire transfers.”
Selena climbed from the bed, suddenly aware she was wearing a white silk nightgown she didn’t recognize.
She immediately folded her arms.
Dempster noticed.
“My housekeeper changed your clothes. Her name is Teresa. She’s sixty-three and considers me personally responsible for most of the world’s problems.”
Despite herself, Selena almost smiled.
Almost.
She opened the folder.
The first page erased it.
ALIDORO WRIGHT.
His signature.
A five-million-dollar bridge loan.
The lender was a corporation Selena didn’t recognize.
Dempster explained that the company was controlled by Victor Serrano, a financier whose legitimate businesses concealed a brutal criminal operation.
Alidoro had borrowed money to cover losses from unauthorized investments.
Then he lost that too.
“When Serrano demanded payment,” Dempster said, “Alidoro offered something else.”
Selena’s stomach turned.
“What?”
Dempster’s jaw tightened.
“You.”
She laughed again, but it sounded broken.
“I’m not property.”
“I know.”
“What exactly did he offer?”
Dempster hesitated.
That frightened her more than an immediate answer.
“Access.”
“To what?”
“Your work.”
Selena went still.
For four years, she had worked at Meridian Strategic Analytics, building financial risk models for shipping companies, insurers, banks, and infrastructure funds.
Her newest model could identify suspicious shipping patterns from fragmented customs data.
It was supposed to detect fraud.
And money laundering.
Her mouth went dry.
“Serrano wanted my model.”
“Yes.”
“Alidoro doesn’t have access.”
“He thought you did.”
Selena remembered Alidoro asking strange questions during their relationship.
Passwords.
Clients.
Servers.
He called it curiosity.
Once, he became angry when she refused to bring her work laptop home.
She had interpreted it as another attempt to control her.
Maybe it had been something worse.
Dempster continued.
“Last night, Alidoro told Serrano he could get the model if he got you back under his control.”
Selena gripped the folder.
“And where do you come into this?”
“Serrano owes me money.”
She gave him a humorless smile.
“Of course he does.”
“He attempted to transfer Alidoro’s obligation to me.”
“With me attached?”
“Yes.”
“And you accepted?”
“No.”
“But I woke up wearing your ring.”
Dempster’s expression hardened.
“Because Alidoro changed the plan.”
He removed his phone and played a recording.
Alidoro’s voice filled the bedroom.
Selena knew that voice intimately.
She had once loved it.
Get her drunk enough and she’ll sign anything.
Her knees nearly buckled.
Another man asked, And Flores?
Alidoro laughed.
Flores likes damaged things. Let him think he’s rescuing her.
Selena stopped the recording.
She couldn’t hear more.
Dempster watched her silently.
She hated the pity she expected to find in his face.
There wasn’t any.
Only anger.
Not at her.
For her.
“Why were you recording him?”
“Because I’ve been investigating Serrano.”
“For what?”
Dempster looked toward the windows.
“My younger brother disappeared eleven years ago.”
That answer changed the room.
“Serrano?”
“I believe so.”
Selena closed the folder.
“So you used me.”
His eyes returned to hers.
“Yes.”
The honesty hit harder than denial.
“You could have called the police.”
“Some of them work for Serrano.”
“You could have warned me.”
“And Serrano would have known I was watching him.”
“So instead you married a drunk woman?”
“No.”
Selena stared.
Dempster reached into his pocket.
He placed another document on the table.
An unsigned marriage license.
Her gaze snapped to him.
“This isn’t filed?”
“No.”
“But the ring—”
“Yours.”
“I’ve never seen it before.”
“You chose it.”
She blinked.
Dempster’s mouth moved slightly.
Almost amusement.
“At approximately one thirty this morning, you announced that if we were going to terrify Alidoro, you required, and I quote, ‘a diamond visible from space.’”
Selena covered her face.
“Oh my God.”
“You were very specific.”
“We’re not married?”
“No.”
“Then why call me Mrs. Flores?”
“Because Serrano has men watching this house.”
Understanding came slowly.
“You want them to think I’m under your protection.”
“Yes.”
She removed the ring.
Dempster’s expression didn’t change.
She set it on the table.
Then came the sound of tires outside.
Dempster moved instantly.
He crossed to the window.
Three black SUVs were climbing the long driveway.
The warmth vanished from his face.
“Get away from the glass.”
Selena didn’t move.
“Who is it?”
Dempster touched an earpiece.
Men appeared outside.
Security.
Doors locked downstairs.
The estate transformed around her.
From mansion to fortress.
Dempster looked at her.
“Serrano’s people.”
Fear crawled along Selena’s spine.
“How do you know?”
His gaze shifted toward the folder in her hands.
“Because twenty minutes ago, someone broke into your apartment.”
Her heart stopped.
“My apartment?”
“They weren’t looking for jewelry.”
“The model.”
“Yes.”
Selena shook her head.
“They won’t find it.”
For the first time, Dempster looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because it isn’t on my computer.”
“Where is it?”
Selena looked at the enormous diamond on the table.
Then at the armed men arriving outside.
A terrible realization formed.
“Alidoro doesn’t know.”
“Know what?”
She swallowed.
“The model can identify every shell company connected to a shipment.”
Dempster’s eyes narrowed.
“And?”
May you like
Selena whispered the part that could get both of them killed.
“I ran it on Flores International six months ago.”
