Chapter 9 - The Man on the Inside
I dropped to the floor.
Marissa pulled me behind the kitchen island as a second shot rang out.
Dominic staggered sideways. Blood spread across his shoulder, staining his suit.
The remote fell from his hand and skidded beneath a chair.
Officer Grant rushed forward.
Dominic struck him in the throat with astonishing speed.
Grant fired again, but the bullet tore into the wall.
They crashed against the hallway table.
Outside, officers heard the shots.
Someone shouted from the backyard.
Dominic drove his knee into Grant’s stomach and reached for the fallen gun.
I saw the remote near the chair.
I crawled toward it.
Dominic noticed.
“Don’t.”
His voice had lost its smooth calm.
I grabbed the remote.
A red light blinked near the top.
There were two buttons.
I had no idea whether either would trigger the explosion.
Dominic froze.
“Put it down carefully.”
“Tell me how to disarm it.”
“It isn’t armed.”
“Then you won’t mind if I press something.”
His face changed.
That was all the answer I needed.
Marissa grabbed a heavy ceramic bowl from the counter and threw it.
It struck Dominic’s injured shoulder.
He shouted and turned.
Grant tackled him from behind.
The front door burst open.
Three officers entered, followed by Detective Ortiz.
“Drop the weapon!”
Grant released Dominic and raised his hands.
Dominic reached toward his jacket.
Ortiz fired.
The bullet struck his leg.
He collapsed.
Within seconds, officers restrained both men.
A bomb unit later confirmed that Dominic’s remote was real, but the device in the garage had not been fully connected. He had entered the property before finishing the setup.
The trail of blood came from a wound he received while escaping the Westbridge house.
Grant had helped him avoid the police perimeter but had turned against him after learning Dominic planned to kill everyone connected to the operation.
That did not make Grant innocent.
It only made him useful.
By dawn, Bernice, Dominic, and Grant were all in custody.
Keaton was taken to the hospital with a concussion, fractured ribs, and a bullet graze along his upper arm.
I rode in a separate police vehicle.
I did not visit him.
Instead, I sat with Detective Ortiz at the station and gave a statement that lasted nearly three hours.
The records recovered from the clinic revealed more than sixty victims across four counties. Bernice had taken information from patients, coworkers, relatives, and neighbors.
Some lost savings.
Some lost homes.
One elderly couple had declared bankruptcy after loans appeared against property they had owned for forty years.
Dominic used shell companies and false investments to move the stolen money.
Austin handled casinos and cash withdrawals.
Grant warned them about investigations.
Keaton provided access to me.
My tax records.
My passwords.
My work contacts.
My signature.
Every betrayal had required a small decision.
Opening a drawer.
Photographing a document.
Leaving my laptop unlocked.
Listening while I discussed work.
He had not made one terrible mistake.
He had made hundreds.
At eight that morning, my attorney arrived.
Marissa had contacted her before the shooting. Her name was Evelyn Shaw, and she carried herself with the calm confidence of someone who had spent decades watching liars collapse under questions.
“We’re filing for an emergency protective order,” she said.
“Against Bernice?”
“Against Bernice, Dominic, Austin, and Keaton.”
“Keaton helped stop her outside.”
“He also helped build the fraud.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
Saying it hurt more than I expected.
Evelyn continued.
“We will also file for legal separation, exclusive possession of the apartment, and protection of all remaining marital assets.”
“I want a divorce.”
She studied me.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation.
Whatever love had existed between Keaton and me had been buried beneath forged signatures and calculated lies.
At noon, Leonard Price contacted me.
The company’s internal review had found that someone in corporate systems helped create the false vendor records. The employee’s name was Trevor Mills.
I knew him.
Trevor worked in systems security and had attended our wedding.
He was Keaton’s college roommate.
“He’s missing,” Leonard said.
“Of course he is.”
“We have also confirmed that the suspicious transactions were generated from cloned credentials. You appear to be a victim.”
“Appear?”
“We still need to complete the investigation.”
“Am I still suspended?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
My name was not cleared.
Not yet.
That afternoon, Detective Ortiz brought me a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was my birth certificate, passport, and Social Security card.
They had been found in Dominic’s vehicle.
There was also a small black flash drive.
“What’s on it?” I asked.
“We haven’t accessed it yet. It has your name written on the label.”
The handwriting belonged to Keaton.
Ortiz connected it to an isolated computer.
A single video file appeared.
The recording began in my apartment six months earlier.
Keaton sat alone at the dining table.
He looked exhausted.
“I don’t know whether Claire will ever see this,” he said to the camera. “But if she does, it means I failed to stop my mother.”
My breath caught.
Keaton continued.
“She thinks Claire’s promotion will give us access to the regional payment system. Dominic wants two million dollars moved through emergency vendor accounts. They plan to blame Claire and leave the country.”
He glanced toward the hallway.
“I helped them. I won’t pretend I didn’t. I told myself I was protecting my family. The truth is, I was afraid of my mother and jealous of my wife.”
His voice broke.
“Claire earned everything I resented her for having.”
The video continued for fourteen minutes.
Keaton described accounts, passwords, meeting locations, and the names of three insiders.
Trevor Mills was one.
Officer Grant was another.
The third name made Leonard Price go silent when Detective Ortiz called him.
The third insider was Leonard’s own executive assistant.
The person who had arranged my promotion meeting.
The person who knew before anyone else that my authority was increasing.
May you like
And according to Keaton’s video, she had been instructed to destroy one final document.
A document proving Leonard Price himself had approved the first fraudulent vendor payment.
