{"id":26051,"date":"2026-09-30T15:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T15:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=26051"},"modified":"2026-09-30T15:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T15:05:13","slug":"part-5-the-first-crack-in-julians-perfect-escape-appeared-when-chloe-called-me-from-zurich-and-begged-me-not-to-hang-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=26051","title":{"rendered":"PART 5 \u2013 The First Crack in Julian\u2019s Perfect Escape Appeared When Chloe Called Me From Zurich and Begged Me Not to Hang Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By early afternoon, my house no longer belonged to me in any ordinary sense.<\/p>\n<p>Eleanor had turned the dining room into a temporary command center. Two laptops sat open beside stacks of printed records. Marcus worked remotely from his office, appearing whenever one of us opened the encrypted video line. A private security team checked windows, cameras, gates, and every vehicle that approached the property.<\/p>\n<p>I had changed out of my sleep shirt, but I still felt as though I had not left the bedroom.<\/p>\n<p>Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Julian standing beside the bed with my grandmother\u2019s necklace in his hand.<\/p>\n<p>I also heard Richard\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n<p>My supposedly dead father-in-law had spoken to me as if returning from the grave were an administrative inconvenience.<\/p>\n<p>At 1:16 p.m., Marcus called again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked across the table at Eleanor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind of something?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe kind Julian probably thought would never be compared side by side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus shared his screen.<\/p>\n<p>Three bank authorization forms appeared.<\/p>\n<p>All carried my forged signature.<\/p>\n<p>The first dated six months earlier.<\/p>\n<p>The second, four months.<\/p>\n<p>The third, only nine days ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first glance they look consistent,\u201d Marcus said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou see it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe C.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first forgery contained the tight upward hook I had already noticed.<\/p>\n<p>The second was slightly broader.<\/p>\n<p>The third almost matched my real signature.<\/p>\n<p>Someone had been practicing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey improved,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I hated the clinical way those words sounded.<\/p>\n<p>Someone had studied my handwriting closely enough to refine the fraud over time.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus enlarged the dates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere\u2019s what matters. The earliest forgery appears shortly after Richard\u2019s accounts became active again. The latest appears after Julian filled the prescription for the sleeping medication.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eleanor leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo the financial framing and the drugging converge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s my working theory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking theory,\u201d I repeated.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus nodded. \u201cWe prove, Claire. We don\u2019t assume.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I appreciated him for saying it even though I already believed Julian guilty of everything.<\/p>\n<p>Belief would not protect me.<\/p>\n<p>Proof might.<\/p>\n<p>At 1:39 p.m., one of the security men entered the room carrying a padded evidence envelope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found something in the garage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA device attached underneath the workbench.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He placed photographs on the table.<\/p>\n<p>A black rectangular object no larger than two fingers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCamera?\u201d Eleanor asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAudio recorder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at it.<\/p>\n<p>The workbench stood beside the interior door that Julian and I used almost every day.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone entering the house spoke there.<\/p>\n<p>Arguments.<\/p>\n<p>Phone calls.<\/p>\n<p>Conversations.<\/p>\n<p>My voice.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus appeared to become more alert on-screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t activate it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t,\u201d the security man said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhotograph placement, preserve the device, record chain of custody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He nodded.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Eleanor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s where the fake audio came from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t believe that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe it\u2019s evidence. I don\u2019t yet know exactly what it proves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She kept doing that.<\/p>\n<p>Refusing to give me certainty before the facts earned it.<\/p>\n<p>It was infuriating.<\/p>\n<p>It was also the reason I trusted her.<\/p>\n<p>I walked toward the garage door but stopped before touching it.<\/p>\n<p>A memory surfaced.<\/p>\n<p>Three months earlier, Julian had repaired the security keypad himself.<\/p>\n<p>I remembered teasing him because he had never repaired anything voluntarily in his life.<\/p>\n<p>He spent almost an hour in the garage.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, I thought he wanted privacy for a phone call.<\/p>\n<p>Now I pictured him attaching the recorder beneath the bench.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThree months,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>Eleanor looked up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember when he could have installed it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I gave her the date as closely as I could.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus wrote it down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood. We\u2019ll compare file creation dates if the device retained them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>International number.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone in the room became still.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Eleanor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnswer on speaker?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot unless you\u2019re comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I answered normally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For a second, only breathing.<\/p>\n<p>Then a woman whispered, \u201cClaire?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe.<\/p>\n<p>Every muscle in my shoulders tightened.<\/p>\n<p>I nearly ended the call.<\/p>\n<p>Then she said, \u201cPlease don\u2019t hang up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fear in her voice stopped me.<\/p>\n<p>Not guilt.<\/p>\n<p>Fear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to know if Julian is with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at Eleanor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe exhaled shakily.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The room seemed to narrow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom where?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZurich.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou went to Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith my husband.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re wearing my grandmother\u2019s necklace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another silence.<\/p>\n<p>Longer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sapphire necklace Julian gave you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said it belonged to his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt belonged to mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe made a sound somewhere between a breath and a sob.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>My anger wanted her to be lying.<\/p>\n<p>The tremor in her voice made that harder to believe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is the necklace?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the hotel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeave it there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou already did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn\u2019t change where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At least she did not ask me to absolve her.<\/p>\n<p>That mattered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did Julian disappear?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI woke up and he was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat time?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout an hour ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he leave anything?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis suitcase is still here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Julian did not abandon luggage unless he expected to return or needed to make someone believe he would.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere were you staying?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe named a luxury hotel near the lake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he have another phone?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My grip tightened around mine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo that I knew about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you know about the accounts?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat accounts?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou expect me to believe you flew to Switzerland with my husband without knowing why?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told me we were starting over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My jaw tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing whose money?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said he\u2019d sold part of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe stole millions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe went silent.<\/p>\n<p>Then she whispered, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEight point seven million that we can identify so far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo was my dead father-in-law calling me this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The line went completely quiet.<\/p>\n<p>I could hear traffic outside Chloe\u2019s room.<\/p>\n<p>Then she asked, \u201cWhat did you just say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRichard is alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe called me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her voice changed.<\/p>\n<p>Not disbelief.<\/p>\n<p>Recognition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJulian talked about him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sat straighter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said his father destroyed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExplain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t. I didn\u2019t understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe started breathing too fast.<\/p>\n<p>I heard fabric rustle, perhaps curtains being closed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the plane Julian drank. A lot. He kept checking his phone. He said Richard had found something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe didn\u2019t say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said, \u2018If he has the ledger, we\u2019re finished.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eleanor grabbed a pen.<\/p>\n<p>I repeated the words carefully.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked. Julian told me to stop asking questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That sounded like him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened after you landed?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe met a man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDescription?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe gave me one.<\/p>\n<p>Late fifties.<\/p>\n<p>Gray hair.<\/p>\n<p>Thin.<\/p>\n<p>German or Swiss accent.<\/p>\n<p>Dark green tie.<\/p>\n<p>Silver-rimmed glasses.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus began typing while I repeated everything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHotel bar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe twenty minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you hear anything?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGeneva.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I wrote it down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJulian came upstairs furious. He told me we might have to move.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo Geneva?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen you slept.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when you woke, he was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he take his passports?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPassport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Singular.<\/p>\n<p>Interesting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about yours?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still have mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about cash?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis wallet is here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was even stranger.<\/p>\n<p>Julian vanished without suitcase, wallet, or visible passport?<\/p>\n<p>Either someone had taken him\u2014<\/p>\n<p>or he wanted Chloe to think they had.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he leave his second phone?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis regular phone?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI already did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tried calling myself from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My teeth clenched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI looked at messages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you find?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe went quiet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are messages about you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The room became very still.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRead them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRead them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her breathing trembled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome are from someone saved as R.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do they say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe last one says, \u2018If she wakes, the entire structure collapses.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My pulse slowed.<\/p>\n<p>Not quickened.<\/p>\n<p>Slowed.<\/p>\n<p>Every word became sharp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen was that sent?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast night. Before we left New York.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Julian replied?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe began crying quietly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wrote, \u2018She won\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No one in the dining room moved.<\/p>\n<p>Even Marcus stopped typing.<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>Not proof of exactly what Julian put in my tea.<\/p>\n<p>But something close to an admission of expectation.<\/p>\n<p>He had believed I would not wake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTake photographs of every message,\u201d Eleanor whispered.<\/p>\n<p>I repeated the instruction.<\/p>\n<p>Chloe did not argue.<\/p>\n<p>She sent them.<\/p>\n<p>One after another.<\/p>\n<p>Screenshots appeared on my phone.<\/p>\n<p>R: Is it done?<\/p>\n<p>Julian: Yes.<\/p>\n<p>R: You\u2019re certain?<\/p>\n<p>Julian: Enough.<\/p>\n<p>R: If she wakes, the entire structure collapses.<\/p>\n<p>Julian: She won\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>My fingers went numb.<\/p>\n<p>The next exchange occurred twenty minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>R: Don\u2019t bring Vance into this.<\/p>\n<p>Julian: Too late.<\/p>\n<p>R: Your mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Julian: She\u2019s useful.<\/p>\n<p>Chloe made a strangled sound.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s useful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She was reading it too.<\/p>\n<p>I said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever relationship Chloe believed she had with Julian was collapsing in real time.<\/p>\n<p>I had no desire to comfort her.<\/p>\n<p>But I could recognize the sound.<\/p>\n<p>I had heard some version of it inside myself all night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need to leave that hotel room,\u201d Eleanor said quietly.<\/p>\n<p>I relayed the advice.<\/p>\n<p>Chloe asked, \u201cWhere do I go?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomewhere public,\u201d I said. \u201cTake your passport. Take nothing Julian owns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe necklace?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeave it in the safe and photograph it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can bring it back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLater.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not ready to hear that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For once, she did not push.<\/p>\n<p>Then Chloe said, \u201cClaire, there\u2019s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found a receipt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA storage facility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGeneva.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Eleanor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s the name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe read it.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus immediately began searching corporate and public records.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat date?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRichard Sterling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No one spoke.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the photograph on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Richard outside the caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>Alive.<\/p>\n<p>Watching us from a story I still did not understand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSend me the receipt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe did.<\/p>\n<p>The document included a unit number.<\/p>\n<p>B-317.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus leaned closer to his screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI may know what that is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot the unit. The facility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt markets itself as private archival storage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor companies?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd private families. Documents, art, records, sealed estates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The word returned.<\/p>\n<p>Ledger.<\/p>\n<p>I felt the pieces shifting.<\/p>\n<p>Richard had hidden something.<\/p>\n<p>Julian believed it could destroy them.<\/p>\n<p>A storage facility in Geneva held something under Richard\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat if the ledger is there?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus did not answer immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Eleanor did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen Julian may be trying to reach it before anyone else does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe suddenly gasped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone\u2019s at the door.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo not answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Three knocks sounded through the phone.<\/p>\n<p>Slow.<\/p>\n<p>Even.<\/p>\n<p>Chloe lowered her voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re saying hotel security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCall the front desk from the room phone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We listened.<\/p>\n<p>A second line clicked.<\/p>\n<p>Chloe spoke in French, then English.<\/p>\n<p>Her voice changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn\u2019t send anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The knocking stopped.<\/p>\n<p>I stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet away from the door.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A man\u2019s voice came faintly from the hallway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMs. Vance?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe covered her mouth.<\/p>\n<p>Then the voice said something that made every person in my dining room freeze.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJulian asked me to take you to Geneva.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chloe whispered, \u201cHe knows I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cHe knew where you would be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The handle moved.<\/p>\n<p>Once.<\/p>\n<p>Twice.<\/p>\n<p>Chloe backed away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo to the bathroom. Lock it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She moved.<\/p>\n<p>A second later I heard the bathroom door close.<\/p>\n<p>Eleanor was already contacting Swiss authorities through the hotel.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus forwarded Chloe\u2019s information.<\/p>\n<p>I stayed on the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeep talking to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought he loved me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the forged signatures on the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo did I.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Someone struck the hotel door hard enough that Chloe screamed.<\/p>\n<p>Then came shouting.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple voices.<\/p>\n<p>Footsteps.<\/p>\n<p>A crash.<\/p>\n<p>The line filled with noise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChloe?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChloe?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then a male voice came through her phone.<\/p>\n<p>Not Julian.<\/p>\n<p>He spoke calmly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMrs. Sterling?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou should not involve yourself in Geneva.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou already have enough problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is Chloe?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A pause.<\/p>\n<p>Then the man said, \u201cAsk your father-in-law what happened to the last person who looked for the ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The line went dead.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=26052\">Click here to continue reading: PART 6: A Dead Accountant\u2019s Name Led Us Toward Geneva, While Julian Began Erasing Everyone Who Could Explain Where the Missing Millions Went<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By early afternoon, my house no longer belonged to me in any ordinary sense. Eleanor had turned the dining room into a temporary command center. Two laptops sat open beside &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26051","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\/26051","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=26051"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26086,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26051\/revisions\/26086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}