I pressed the phone harder against my ear.<\/p>\n
Tessa stood on the other side of my desk, perfectly still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean you know I didn\u2019t collect it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Harris answered carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been investigating several complaints involving catering payments for a number of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cComplaints against me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst your company name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the same thing to customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich is one reason we need to speak with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the fake invoice on my computer.<\/p>\n
My logo.<\/p>\n
My address.<\/p>\n
My tax information.<\/p>\n
My signature.<\/p>\n
Anyone seeing it without context would assume I had created it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho do you think collected the money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have identified a person of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBrielle Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hearing my sister\u2019s name from a detective felt different from suspecting it myself.<\/p>\n
Until that moment, some part of me had still been searching for an innocent explanation.<\/p>\n
Maybe Brielle had made one fake invoice to inflate the wedding budget.<\/p>\n
Maybe Daniel had misunderstood.<\/p>\n
Maybe someone else had gained access to my records.<\/p>\n
Detective Harris removed those possibilities with two words.<\/p>\n
My sister.<\/p>\n
Tessa saw the answer on my face.<\/p>\n
She sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much have you confirmed?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll discuss the complete figures when you arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAm I a suspect?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to understand that your credentials were used.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t answer my question.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Based on what we currently have, we believe your identity and business information were misused.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relief lasted less than a second.<\/p>\n
Then Harris continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, your sister has told investigators that you authorized her to handle customer payments.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood so quickly my chair struck the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe claims she acted with your permission.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have evidence that appears inconsistent with her account.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d rather discuss it in person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
I checked the clock.<\/p>\n
It was approaching six.<\/p>\n
Across town, Brielle should have been walking down the aisle.<\/p>\n
Instead, I was being invited to a financial-crimes office to explain why my sister had used my company to collect nearly two hundred thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll come.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBring any records showing who had authorized access to your accounts, your invoicing procedures, and examples of legitimate contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not contact your sister about the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
That stopped me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we don\u2019t want evidence destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Tessa.<\/p>\n
Too late, I thought.<\/p>\n
Brielle knew something was happening.<\/p>\n
Maybe she had known for weeks.<\/p>\n
Maybe that was why she had been so desperate to portray me as unstable in front of three hundred witnesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cDetective?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had access to copies of my business documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave them to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tessa closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
I continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo years ago she said she wanted to help with marketing and family bookings. I gave her old invoices, registration documents, logos, vendor information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris became more attentive.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything containing account credentials?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOld computers?\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy previous laptop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt broke about eighteen months ago. Brielle offered to take it to a repair shop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you get it back?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. She said the drive had failed and the machine wasn\u2019t worth fixing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris was silent.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you remember the repair shop?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI might have the receipt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFind it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended shortly afterward.<\/p>\n
Tessa stared at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had your laptop?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith saved passwords?\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tessa stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to change everything. Not just the obvious accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n
We worked fast.<\/p>\n
Business email.<\/p>\n
Accounting software.<\/p>\n
Payment processor.<\/p>\n
Cloud storage.<\/p>\n
Vendor portals.<\/p>\n
Social-media accounts.<\/p>\n
Domain registration.<\/p>\n
Anywhere an old password might have survived, we replaced it.<\/p>\n
I called my accountant and told him enough to make him stop asking questions and start preserving records.<\/p>\n
Then I downloaded transaction histories.<\/p>\n
While files transferred, Daniel texted.<\/p>\n
CALL ME.<\/p>\n
I hesitated because Detective Harris had specifically told me not to contact Brielle, not Daniel.<\/p>\n
I called.<\/p>\n
He answered immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wedding isn\u2019t happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI confronted her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout the invoices?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first she said you asked her to collect the payments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Exactly what she had told police.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked why the catering invoice for our wedding was almost thirty thousand dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat you were charging us extra because you were jealous.\u201d<\/p>\n
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.<\/p>\n
Daniel didn\u2019t laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me you were having financial problems,\u201d he continued. \u201cShe said your company was close to failing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has never seen my financial statements.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened when you asked where my payment went?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe started crying.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen she said your parents knew about the arrangement.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother looked confused. Your father got angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sounded like Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Brielle do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe left the room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is she now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m serious. She disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new call flashed across my screen.<\/p>\n
Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s voice broke slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaya.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know what part he meant.<\/p>\n
The ruined wedding.<\/p>\n
The accusations.<\/p>\n
The fake invoice.<\/p>\n
Trusting Brielle.<\/p>\n
Maybe all of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll call you later.\u201d<\/p>\n
I switched to Dad.<\/p>\n
His voice was low.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaya.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBrielle is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith who?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one saw.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, the police are investigating her.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know she was collecting money using my company?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever receive money from her?\u201d<\/p>\n
The silence that followed was long enough to frighten me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix months ago she gave me some money. She said it came from helping with your business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou accepted ten thousand dollars supposedly from my company without asking me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said it was her share.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHer share of what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said she had referred clients.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pressed my fingers against my forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never paid Brielle a commission.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice hardened defensively.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaya, this is not the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is exactly the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he said something stranger.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s another problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe took the safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat safe?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe small black one you kept at the apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
For several seconds I couldn\u2019t place what he meant.<\/p>\n
Then memory returned.<\/p>\n
My first apartment after leaving hotel work.<\/p>\n
The cramped second bedroom where I had run Maya\u2019s Table before I could afford commercial space.<\/p>\n
The fireproof safe.<\/p>\n
When I moved, I stored it temporarily at my parents\u2019 house because the new kitchen renovation had not been completed.<\/p>\n
I had forgotten it was still there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was inside?\u201d Dad asked.<\/p>\n
My heart began beating harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginal registration records. Old tax files. Contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBackup drives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad swore under his breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did she get it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know. Your mother went upstairs after Brielle disappeared. The closet was open.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Brielle have a key?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knows where we keep the spare.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
Tessa watched me.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall the police,\u201d I told Dad. \u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re already here.\u201d<\/p>\n
I ended the call and immediately contacted Detective Harris.<\/p>\n
She already knew.<\/p>\n
Security cameras at my parents\u2019 house and near my old apartment had caught Brielle moving the safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went to the apartment too?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe she was checking for additional records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the wedding ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n
That detail changed everything.<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t a panicked bride reacting to an unexpected accusation.<\/p>\n
Brielle had been moving evidence before Daniel confronted her.<\/p>\n
Possibly before I drove away with the food.<\/p>\n
I remembered her certainty at the venue.<\/p>\n
Her immediate decision to call me a thief.<\/p>\n
Her insistence that everything had been paid.<\/p>\n
The wedding-day argument suddenly looked less accidental.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if she wanted the scene?\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
Tessa looked at me.<\/p>\n
Harris asked, \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf everyone saw me leave angry, Brielle could say I was unstable. She could blame missing catering money on me. She could make three hundred people remember me storming out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
The possibility sat heavily between us.<\/p>\n
Harris finally said, \u201cCome directly to the station.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gathered everything I could carry.<\/p>\n
Contracts.<\/p>\n
Bank statements.<\/p>\n
Copies of legitimate invoices.<\/p>\n
Employee authorization records.<\/p>\n
A notebook listing passwords that had already been changed.<\/p>\n
Tessa insisted on coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could take hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaya, I just spent two days preparing three hundred meals for a wedding that imploded because your sister may have stolen two hundred thousand dollars through our workplace. I\u2019m invested.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite everything, I smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n
We were almost outside when Daniel messaged again.<\/p>\n
DON\u2019T COME TO THE VENUE.<\/p>\n
Another message followed.<\/p>\n
BRIELLE TOLD EVERYONE THE POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING YOU FOR STEALING THE CATERING MONEY.<\/p>\n
I stared at the words.<\/p>\n
Even while fleeing, she was still constructing her defense.<\/p>\n
Not by proving herself innocent.<\/p>\n
By making me guilty first.<\/p>\n
The police station was twenty minutes away.<\/p>\n
Halfway there, my mother called.<\/p>\n
I almost ignored her.<\/p>\n
Then I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad told me about the ten thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him something felt wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked Brielle where she was getting money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMonths ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat you were helping her.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked through the passenger window at streetlights sliding past.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you believed her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer hurt more than denial would have.<\/p>\n
Mom had noticed.<\/p>\n
She had seen Brielle spending money she couldn\u2019t explain.<\/p>\n
She had chosen the explanation requiring the least confrontation.<\/p>\n
As usual, the cost of keeping peace had landed somewhere else.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice are looking for her,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
My mother began crying harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t let them destroy her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Even now.<\/p>\n
Even with my business name on fraudulent documents.<\/p>\n
Even with customers missing money.<\/p>\n
Even with Brielle blaming me.<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s first instinct was still to ask me to protect my sister.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not doing anything to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Mom. I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe made mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo hundred thousand dollars is not a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo am I.\u201d<\/p>\n
That silenced her.<\/p>\n
Maybe because I rarely admitted it.<\/p>\n
I was scared.<\/p>\n
Scared customers would believe the invoices were mine.<\/p>\n
Scared my reputation would collapse.<\/p>\n
Scared tax authorities would find transactions attached to my company that I had never reported because I never received them.<\/p>\n
Scared employees would lose jobs.<\/p>\n
Scared Brielle had left something behind that made me look complicit.<\/p>\n
Most of all, I was scared that years of protecting my family had given my sister precisely the access she needed to damage everything I had built.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to go,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaya.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease remember she\u2019s your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the police station appearing ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I ended the call.<\/p>\n
Detective Harris was waiting inside with another investigator, Detective Miller.<\/p>\n
A thick folder lay on the conference-room table.<\/p>\n
Harris asked Tessa to identify herself, then allowed her to stay after confirming she had operational knowledge of the business.<\/p>\n
I sat opposite the detectives.<\/p>\n
Harris opened the folder.<\/p>\n
Invoices covered the table.<\/p>\n
My company name appeared on every page.<\/p>\n
Some were excellent copies.<\/p>\n
Others contained tiny mistakes.<\/p>\n
Old phone numbers.<\/p>\n
Outdated menu descriptions.<\/p>\n
A former business address.<\/p>\n
But to an ordinary customer, they would have looked real.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cFourteen months we can document confidently.\u201d<\/p>\n
I swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think there\u2019s more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller slid a summary toward me.<\/p>\n
At the bottom was a number.<\/p>\n
$212,600.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
The preliminary total Tessa and I had found was already horrifying.<\/p>\n
This was worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo hundred twelve thousand?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix hundred,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
My sister had stolen more than two hundred thousand dollars while wearing my business like a mask.<\/p>\n
Harris turned another page.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Every time someone said that today, my life became worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t operating alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
A photograph landed on the table.<\/p>\n
A man stood beside Brielle outside a bank.<\/p>\n
I knew his face.<\/p>\n
I hadn\u2019t seen him in years.<\/p>\n
But I knew him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s Marcus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris watched me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is Marcus?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister\u2019s former boyfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did they resume contact?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know they had.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the photograph.<\/p>\n
Brielle had been planning a wedding to Daniel.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, she had secretly been meeting Marcus.<\/p>\n
And according to the detectives, money stolen through my company connected them.<\/p>\n
Harris slid one final photograph toward me.<\/p>\n
It showed Brielle carrying my black safe.<\/p>\n
The timestamp was from earlier that afternoon.<\/p>\n
Before the wedding collapsed.<\/p>\n
Before Daniel confronted her.<\/p>\n
Before she supposedly discovered she was in trouble.<\/p>\n
I understood then.<\/p>\n
My sister hadn\u2019t fled because her wedding fell apart.<\/p>\n
She had expected something to fall apart.<\/p>\n
And whatever she had planned, it had started long before I refused to serve the first plate.<\/p>\n
I pressed the phone harder against my ear. Tessa stood on the other side of my desk, perfectly still. \u201cWhat do you mean you know I didn\u2019t collect it?\u201d Detective … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10243,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10223\/revisions\/10243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}