Chapter 5: The Headline

The flash left a blue spot in my eyes.

When it cleared, Haley was gone and the door was swinging shut.

"Let her go," Dario said.

"She'll post it."

"I know."

He poured me a glass of wine and pushed it across the tablecloth.

"Eat something," he said. "Tomorrow will be loud."

It was loud by seven.

I woke up in Dario's top-floor guest room to my phone buzzing itself across the nightstand.

Forty-one missed calls.

A hundred and six texts.

The first one I opened was from a woman I'd taken to lunch every month for five years.

"Is this true??"

Under it was a link.

The headline said: STRATTON FREIGHT EXEC FIRED OVER $4 MILLION THEFT, SEEN DINING WITH ALLEGED MOB BOSS.

The photo was Haley's.

Me at the round table, the Madonna behind me, Dario's hand on the back of my chair.

I read the article sitting on the edge of the bed.

Stratton Freight had "discovered irregularities" after my departure.

Four million dollars had been wired out of the company in March.

The approval carried my credentials.

The company was "cooperating with authorities" and "deeply saddened."

There was a quote from Brent.

"I trusted Giulia with everything. I'm heartbroken."

My banking app wouldn't open.

When it did, my account said FROZEN in red letters.

My cards were declined at the coffee cart on the corner, where Dario's driver had sent me with a twenty.

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