Chapter 6 - The Transfer That Failed
On day eight of David’s trip, Thomas found a scheduled nine-million-dollar transfer.
Vance Strategic reserve account to Blue Meridian.
It required two approvals.
David’s.
And mine.
The system already showed my approval.
Forged again.
The bank blocked it with federal coordination.
At 9:03 a.m., David called me for the first time since Lily entered intensive care.
I looked at Rachel and Agent Price.
Price nodded.
I answered.
“Maya,” David snapped, “did you freeze the corporate account?”
“I’m in a hotel room.”
“Don’t play games.”
“What account?”
He went quiet.
Then his voice softened.
“Baby, I know we’ve been disconnected.”
I almost laughed.
“I needed space,” he continued. “This trip has helped me see that.”
“Good.”
“I need you to approve a routine transfer.”
“What kind?”
“Liquidity.”
“What does that mean?”
“Maya, please don’t make this difficult.”
For eleven years, that sentence had usually worked.
Not anymore.
“What if I say no?”
His tone hardened.
“You could damage the company.”
“The company I own thirty-eight percent of?”
Silence.
He had trained me never to say that out loud.
“Maya,” he said slowly, “who have you been talking to?”
“No one.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
“Maybe you don’t know me.”
He hung up.
Three minutes later, urgent signature requests hit my email.
I signed nothing.
Then Julianne called.
She was crying.
“David is losing it.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“I need off this yacht.”
“Then leave.”
“I can’t.”
The room changed.
“What do you mean?”
“He took my passport.”
Price stood.
“Where is it?” I asked.
“In the black folder.”
My pulse jumped.
“What else is in there?”
“Bank papers. Copies of IDs. Something with your name.”
“What?”
She lowered her voice.
“Maya Vance — psychiatric history summary.”
The personal exposure plan.
Then Julianne whispered, “I didn’t know about Lily.”
My chest tightened.
“Did David play her voice message in front of you?”
Silence.
“Julianne.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
She started sobbing.
“He said kids get dramatic when they’re sick.”
A man shouted in the background.
David.
“Who are you talking to?”
The line went dead.
Within an hour, Bahamian authorities boarded the yacht.
Julianne was removed safely.
Frank was detained.
David was questioned.
May you like
But he still planned to fly home.
And now he knew I had stopped obeying him.
