Chapter 6 - Following the Money
I met Marcus at a quiet coffee shop downtown.
Marcus was a forensic accountant and one of my oldest friends from college.
"You look terrible," he said, handing me a flat white.
"I ruined a wedding yesterday," I replied, taking the cup. "It takes it out of you."
I slid the flash drive across the table.
"I need you to look at these routing numbers. Natalie transferred the excess funds to a secondary account. I need to know whose it is."
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Eleanor, this borders on illegal."
"She committed wire fraud against me, Marcus. I just need to know if I should involve the police."
He sighed, plugging the drive into his heavily encrypted laptop.
His fingers flew across the keyboard. Ten minutes passed in silence.
"Well," Marcus finally said, his expression grim. "The money didn't go to Natalie."
"What?"
"The secondary account belongs to a shell corporation in Nevada," he explained, pointing at the screen. "But the registered agent on the LLC is Arthur Marsh."
My stomach dropped. "My father?"
"And it gets worse," Marcus continued. "I ran a quick background check on the LLC. It’s got multiple liens against it from a casino group in Atlantic City."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
My father had a gambling problem when I was a teenager, but he swore he had gone to rehab and stopped.
"He's gambling again," I whispered.
"He's not just gambling," Marcus corrected. "He owes them close to a hundred grand. Your sister wasn't stealing for a honeymoon. She was helping him pay off his debts using your money."
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The betrayal hit me like a physical blow.
It wasn't just Natalie. My whole family had conspired to rob me blind.
