Nora sat in the dark office of Preston Distribution before sunrise, staring at the computer screen as the truth slowly assembled itself in front of her.
Chapter 2
PART 2 - THE PURCHASE RECORD THAT PROVED EDGAR HELPED PLAN EVERYTHING
851 words
The transaction history was impossible to misunderstand.
Two days earlier, someone had used one of the company’s purchasing accounts to order a live western diamondback rattlesnake from a private exotic animal supplier outside Tucson. The order had been disguised as a “wildlife control expense,” something that could easily pass unnoticed among hundreds of business transactions.
But Nora noticed everything.
She had built her company by knowing where every dollar went.
Her fingers moved across the keyboard as she opened the authorization logs.
The account holder appeared.
Edgar Finch.
Nora leaned back in her chair.
For several minutes, she didn’t move.
She had expected betrayal. She had expected greed. She had expected her husband to be involved after hearing him confess upstairs.
But seeing his name attached to the purchase made the betrayal feel different.
It was no longer a suspicion.
It was a fact.
Edgar had not simply allowed his
mother to hurt her.
He had helped prepare the weapon.
Nora printed every record she could find. The purchase confirmation. The payment receipt. The login history. The camera footage from the warehouse where the transaction had been accessed.
Then she opened the company’s internal security cameras.
The footage was grainy, but clear enough.
At 2:14 in the morning, Edgar had entered the warehouse office.
He looked around carefully before sitting at Nora’s computer.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
He searched for the company payment system.
He entered his password.
Then he purchased a snake.
Nora watched the footage twice.
The second time, she noticed something she had missed before.
Edgar was smiling.
Not nervously.
Not fearfully.
He was smiling like a man who believed his future was already guaranteed.
Nora closed the laptop.
For ten years, she had loved a man who had been waiting for her to
disappear.
She thought about all the moments she had defended him.
When business partners questioned why Edgar contributed so little financially.
When friends asked why she carried the entire responsibility of the household.
When Kristina made cruel comments about her inability to have children.
Nora always found excuses.
Edgar was gentle.
Edgar was patient.
Edgar was family.
But now she understood something terrifying.
Sometimes the person standing beside you was not protecting you.
Sometimes they were simply waiting for the right moment to take everything.
Nora did not return home immediately.
Instead, she called the one person she trusted completely.
Her attorney, Olivia Grant.
Olivia had helped Nora build her company’s legal foundation years earlier. She was sharp, direct, and impossible to intimidate.
When Nora arrived at Olivia’s office, she placed the documents on the desk without saying a word.
Olivia read everything.
Then she looked up.
“Are you sure
about this?”
Nora nodded.
“I heard them.”
“All of them?”
“Edgar. Kristina. Heather.”
Olivia’s expression changed when she heard the name.
“Heather Perkinson?”
“You know her?”
Olivia hesitated.
“Only by reputation.”
“What reputation?”
Olivia folded her hands.
“Heather is not just some woman your husband met recently. She’s been involved in several financial disputes. Nothing criminal that I know of, but she has a history of attaching herself to wealthy men.”
Nora felt her stomach tighten.
“So Edgar wasn’t the first.”
“No.”
“Then why marry me?”
Olivia looked at her carefully.
“Because you had something he wanted.”
Nora looked down at the insurance documents.
Twenty-five million dollars.
The number suddenly seemed meaningless.
The money had been the bait.
The real plan had been much larger.
They wanted her company.
Her assets.
Her entire life.
“Olivia,” Nora said quietly, “I need to know everything.”
“You need to be careful.”
“I am done being careful.”
For the first time since discovering the betrayal, Olivia saw something different in Nora’s eyes.
Not sadness.
Not fear.
Determination.
Back at the house, Edgar and Kristina had no idea Nora knew.
They continued pretending.
That was the part that disturbed Nora the most.
Edgar kissed her forehead when she returned.
“You seem tired.”
Nora looked at him.
“I didn’t sleep well.”
He smiled.
“I’m sorry.”
The fake concern almost made her laugh.
Kristina walked into the kitchen carrying coffee.
“I was worried about you, sweetheart.”
Nora accepted the cup.
“Thank you.”
Kristina studied her face.
“You know, stress can make people sick.”
The hidden meaning was obvious.
Nora took a sip of coffee and smiled.
“I know.”
That answer made Kristina uncomfortable.
For a moment, the older woman looked afraid.
Only for a moment.
Then she recovered.
“You should think about taking a vacation.”
“Maybe I should.”
Edgar stepped closer.
“Actually, that might be a good idea. You’ve been working too hard.”
Nora looked at him.
A vacation.
A perfect opportunity.
A place where accidents happened.
A place where nobody would question a tragedy.
She realized they were not done planning.
The snake had failed.
So they would try again.
And she needed to know how.
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