Page 95 of Fifth Avenue Devil

“Monique embezzled the missing twenty million dollars from this company!” Nate cries.

My mom’s gait slows, then stops. She turns around slowly.

“You can’t prove that!” she hisses.

"We can, actually. We have the confession you made to Lori yesterday on video,” I cut in. “It’s pretty cut and dry.”

“You little bitch!” Mom’s eyes widen for a second before her expression turns angry again. “My lawyers will have you for breakfast.”

“Now, Monique.” Nate clucks his tongue loudly. “We also have you on the security tape on the days of the embezzlement, breaking into Archer’s office. The time stamps line up quite nicely.”

Nate presses another button and several still shots from crystal clear security cameras pop up onscreen. They are taken from inside in my father’s office, time stamped as clear as day. And right in the middle of each shot is my mother, sneaking into the room.

My mom’s jaw drops. “You—you can’t use that! It’s… confidential!”

“Nice try. It’s a funny story. Apparently, Archer installed a nanny cam in his office. News flash: your husband doesn’t trust you, Monique. I assume that you started embezzling as a solo project. When your husband caught on, you were forced to cut him in. Isn’t that right, Archer?”

The tension in the room is a thick, suffocating fog as Nate focuses his piercing silver eyes on my parents. I watch, heart pounding, as he coolly delivers the final blow.

"How do I know?” Nate asks, as if someone has voiced the question. “You hid the money in bank accounts across the globe. I have you both on tape, walking into banks in the Grand Caymans, the Czech Republic, and Kenya. That was insanely stupid of you.”

My mother's face turns ashen. Her muted pink lipstick is suddenly garish against her pale skin. My father clenches his jaw, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

I feel nothing but a cool numbness as I stare at my parents. They perpetrated a large financial crime and had the fucking balls to try to pin it on me. I’m just lucky that they’re both dumb enough to think they wouldn’t be caught.

But my trust in them is now shattered like a priceless vase carelessly dropped onto an unforgiving marble floor. It can never be put back together.

“I did no such thing!” my mom yells, her face turning red. “Archer, say something, for god’s sake. Defend my honor!”

“Monique, dear…” My father, who is dressed in a black suit that makes his pallor stand out all the more, clears his throat. He shifts in his seat, still clutching his cane. “I think it’s best if neither of us says anything. We don’t want to make any statements, period.”

Mr. duBeck, the head of the board, climbs to his feet. “Excuse me, Archer. If Nate didn’t call this meeting for any reason other than to harass you?—”

“You?” Nate points at him. “Sit down. Shut up. Or else I will start telling the other board members all about your overseas sex tourism. Laos? Gambia? Ukraine?”

Mr. duBeck staggers and collapses in his seat as if someone had fired a shot at his center mass. His eyes protrude like they are about to pop out of his head.

“Good man.” Nate sweeps his gaze over the assembled board members. "If I go to the press with what I've uncovered, you'll all be fucked. You were on a board for years while financial improprieties went on under your nose? Who would hire you if word got out? You would be tainted by scandal.”

“Mr. Fordham, I don’t think—” Mrs. Smythe starts in, her gray coiffure quivering. She looks like a large, graying lump of Jell-O.

“Mrs. Smythe, let me stop you right there. I know that two of your three husbands died under mysterious circumstances. You paid the same coroner hundreds of thousands of dollars to declare the deaths heart attacks. Isn’t that right?”

Mrs. Smythe gapes. “Well, I—I?—”

“Right.” Nate looks at me, smiling blandly. “We have the same type of information on each one of the board members. Mrs. Smythe here should be less afraid of her secret getting out than the rest of you. Corrupt sons of bitches, every last one of you. Seriously, the next one that says a fucking word gets his or her secret spilled to a tabloid.”

I’m pretty sure I hear an audible gulp. Eyes around the table widen, everyone looking around at the gathered group.

“Right. That’s settled. And before anyone gets any ideas, I’ve got a fucking dead man’s switch. Fucking with me is the only way to be certain that your secretswillgo viral."

Nate lets the threat hang in the air for a moment, allowing the gravity of the situation to settle. I can feel the balance of power shifting. Damn. Nate was right.

I could be dressed in a damn clown suit right now and no one would notice. No one else is bothering to look beyond themselves.

My dad clears his throat. “What do you want, you prick?”

Nate rubs his hands together as his eyes slide around the room.

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