PART 6: THE TRAP WAS NEVER AN ACCIDENT
I couldn't breathe.
His last question echoed through my mind.
“Who do you think left it there for you to find?”
I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles turned white.
“What are you talking about?”
A soft laugh came through the speaker.
The kind of laugh that made my stomach twist.
“You always believed you were discovering the truth on your own.”
He paused.
“But every single thing you've seen… I wanted you to see.”
The call ended.
I stared at the dark screen, unable to move.
Across the table, Daniel and Sophie exchanged nervous glances.
“He knows everything,” I whispered.
Daniel immediately stood up.
“We have to leave. Right now.”
We barely made it outside the restaurant when a black SUV slowly pulled up across the street.
Its windows were completely tinted.
The engine kept running.
No one got out.
But it didn't drive away either.
Sophie suddenly grabbed my arm.
“We're being watched.”
My heart pounded.
Daniel quickly led us into a nearby parking garage.
Only after the SUV disappeared did he finally stop.
“You need to understand something,” he said.
“This isn't just about an affair or a divorce anymore.”
I looked at him.
“Then what is it about?”
He reached into his backpack and handed me a small flash drive.
“I've been collecting evidence for years.”
“What evidence?”
He hesitated.
Then he answered.
“Your husband has been using shell companies in Manhattan to hide millions of dollars.”
I felt the ground disappear beneath me.
“Millions?”
Daniel nodded.
“He transferred the money through fake consulting contracts.”
“And your mother-in-law approved every transaction.”
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
The Manhattan Plan had never been about love.
It had never been about leaving me for another woman.
It was about money.
Power.
And making sure I could never expose them.
Sophie lowered her head.
“I was part of it at first.”
Daniel looked at her in disbelief.
She closed her eyes.
“I thought he loved me.”
A tear rolled down her cheek.
“But the day I found out he was planning to betray me too... I realized I was just another pawn.”
I wanted to hate her.
Part of me still did.
But the fear in her eyes looked real.
She reached into her purse and placed a hotel key card on the table.
“He asked me to meet him tonight.”
“Where?”
“The Grand Lexington Hotel.”
I stared at the card.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Because tonight... he's meeting someone even more important than me.”
“Who?”
Sophie swallowed hard.
“The person who financed the Manhattan Plan.”
Before anyone could speak again, Daniel's phone buzzed.
His face turned pale as he read the message.
“What is it?” I asked.
He slowly turned the screen toward me.
It was a photograph.
Taken only seconds earlier.
A picture of the three of us standing inside the parking garage.
Underneath it was a single sentence.
“You have one hour left.”
