Chapter 6 - Shadows of Treason
The next forty-eight hours were a living nightmare for Abby.
Her picture was splashed across financial tabloids with headlines speculating about "The Maid Who Brought Down Cross Enterprises." Federal agents watched her small apartment in Queens from unmarked black sedans. Ethan called her in tears, terrified that his dream of graduating college would be erased by scandal.
Yet, amidst the storm, Abby refused to break.
She sat at her tiny kitchen table, analyzing everything that had happened on that fateful Tuesday afternoon. She remembered the subtle details: the smell of expensive, metallic perfume lingering near the elevator when she arrived at 2:00 PM; the small, polished silver cufflink she had swept under the sofa in the hallway—a cufflink with the initials C.V.
Carter Vance, Abby realized, her heart racing.
Meanwhile, inside Cross Tower, Julian was losing his mind.
The penthouse felt suffocatingly quiet without Abby. The floors were spotless, maintained by a new cleaning team, but the soul of the home was gone. Julian spent two days staring at the security logs, reviewing every frame of footage before and after the 20-minute gap.
Something didn't add up.
Julian called Marcus into his private vault. "Run the biometric log on the private express elevator for Tuesday at 1:45 PM."
"Sir, that elevator requires your personal fingerprint," Marcus replied.
"Run it anyway," Julian demanded.
Marcus typed on his tablet. Suddenly, his face went pale. "There was a secondary fingerprint override used at 1:50 PM. An old administrative bypass code... belonging to your former COO, Harrison Reed."
Julian stood up, his eyes flashing with lethal realization. Harrison Reed had been fired six months ago for financial misconduct—and he was currently the Vice Chairman at Vance Capital.
"Harrison knew the layout of the penthouse," Julian whispered, his hands clenching into fists as a wave of overwhelming guilt washed over him. "He used the security maintenance loop to enter through the service door, access the terminal, wire the money to Ethan Mercer's university to frame Abigail, and leak the documents to Vance."
"Mr. Cross..." Marcus swallowed hard. "Abigail Mercer was telling the truth. She was set up."
Julian slammed his fist onto the mahogany table, shattering a glass display case.
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I broke her, Julian thought, his chest heaving with agonized realization. She was the only pure, honest thing in my world, and I condemned her.
"Find Harrison Reed," Julian ordered, his voice low, dark, and terrifying. "And prepare the car. I'm going to Queens."
