THE PRICE OF BETRAYAL

The Trace

Maxwell called Elena back within two hours. She had gone back to her parents' house and was sitting in the car outside, not ready to go in and explain anything yet.

"I have something," Maxwell said. "My financial team traced the account Camille's name is attached to. It's registered through a bank in the Cayman Islands, opened four months ago. That matches what Camille told you about when Voss approached her."

"Has the transfer happened yet?" Elena asked.

"Not yet," Maxwell said. "The account currently holds a little over four hundred thousand dollars, moved in small amounts over the past few months. The two million Camille mentioned hasn't gone through. Based on the pattern, it looks like they're planning one final transfer, probably timed close to the baby's birth, the way Camille described."

"Can you freeze it?" Elena asked.

"Not directly, and not yet," Maxwell said. "I don't have legal authority over an account that isn't mine, and going to the bank now would tip them off before we have enough evidence connecting Julian directly to the fraud. Right now, everything points to Voss and Camille's name. We need something that ties Julian to the decision-making, not just the money."

Elena rubbed her forehead. "Julian doesn't write emails about things like this. He talks. He signs things without reading them and lets Voss draft everything. If there's proof, it's probably in Voss's files, not Julian's."

"Then we need someone inside Voss's office," Maxwell said. "Someone who can access his records without raising suspicion."

Elena went quiet for a moment. "I might know someone. Voss's assistant, Priya. She's worked for him for six years. Julian invited her to our anniversary dinner two years ago because Voss couldn't make it and sent her instead. She mentioned once that she felt overworked and underpaid, that Voss barely acknowledged her outside of client meetings."

"Do you think she'd help us?" Maxwell asked.

"I don't know," Elena said. "But she might talk to me if I approach her the right way. If she's unhappy with how she's treated, she may not feel loyal enough to protect him if something goes wrong."

"Be careful how you approach her," Maxwell said. "If she's more loyal than you think, she'll go straight to Voss, and he'll know someone is looking into his files."

"I'll think about how to do it," Elena said. "In the meantime, is there any way to identify who else might be involved? You said Voss sits on the audit committee. Does anyone else on that committee know what's happening?"

"That's the next thing I'm looking into," Maxwell said. "If Voss is manipulating the audit process alone, that's one problem. If someone else on the committee is helping him hide it, the fraud goes deeper than we thought, and it becomes harder to expose without every part of it collapsing at once."

Elena leaned her head back against the car seat. "This was supposed to be about an affair. Now it feels like I walked into something much bigger than my own marriage."

"You did," Maxwell said. "But it also means Julian has more to lose than just his position. If this goes the way I think it will, he won't just lose the company. He could face criminal charges alongside Voss."

"And Camille?" Elena asked.

"If she cooperates and gives us what we need before the transfer happens, there's a real chance she avoids the worst of it," Maxwell said. "But that depends on how fast we move, and how much she's willing to risk to help us."

Elena's phone buzzed with a new message. It was from Camille.

I found something in a drawer at Julian's house. I don't think I was supposed to see it. It has your name on it too.

Elena's chest tightened as she read the message a second time.

"Maxwell," she said slowly, "Camille just texted me. She says she found something with my name on it in Julian's house."

There was a brief silence on the line. "Elena, don't respond yet. Call me back after you find out exactly what she means. If your name is already tied to something in his private files, we need to know why before you say anything back to her."