“Mr. Vale walked into our financial-crimes unit forty minutes ago.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“He says he wants to cooperate.”
I laughed once.
Of course he did.
Then the detective delivered the first twist I never expected.
“He also says Kristen has been blackmailing him for eleven months.”
CHAPTER 4 — MARTIN ADMITTED HE HELPED THEM STEAL FROM ME. THEN HE SHOWED POLICE THE SECRET KRISTEN HAD USED TO CONTROL HIM
Martin did not become innocent because someone blackmailed him.
I want that understood.
People like simple categories after betrayal.
Victim.
Villain.
Good.
Bad.
Life rarely gives you that convenience.
Martin had choices.
He made terrible ones.
But when investigators reconstructed what happened, I finally understood how Kristen got inside my company.
Fifteen years earlier, Martin had made a financial mistake.
Not a bookkeeping error.
A secret loan.
His wife, Elaine, had developed cancer.
Their insurance covered treatment but not everything.
Martin borrowed $180,000 against a vendor rebate account controlled through one of our older companies.
