Chapter 5 - The Inside Man
The transformation took two days.
Marcus brought in a stylist who cut my long brown hair into a sleek, blonde bob and outfitted me in tailored business suits.
When I looked in the mirror, Cara the waitress was gone.
In her place stood Clara Hughes, a high-end executive assistant with a fabricated resume flawless enough to pass an FBI background check.
Dante briefed me relentlessly in the library.
“Julian keeps a secondary, physical ledger in his office. He’s paranoid about digital footprints.”
“Why would he keep evidence of his own crimes?” I asked.
“Because it’s his insurance policy against Vanessa,” Dante explained.
“If she ever tries to betray him, that ledger proves she authorized the embezzlement that funded their takeover.”
“And you want me to steal it.”
“I want you to photograph it.”
Dante handed me a sleek, gold pen. “There’s a micro-camera built into the clip. All you have to do is get into his private office on the 40th floor.”
I twirled the pen in my fingers, my stomach doing flips.
“What if he catches me?”
Dante stepped close to me, his hands resting gently on my shoulders.
It was the first time he’d touched me since the crash.
His hands were warm, and the intense look in his gray eyes made my breath hitch.
“Marcus will be in a van across the street monitoring your comms. If things go wrong, you say the word, and my men will pull you out.”
He paused, his voice dropping an octave.
“I will not let them hurt you, Cara. You have my word.”
May you like
I looked up at him, realizing the lines between a business arrangement and something much deeper were beginning to blur.
“Okay,” I breathed. “Let’s do it.”
