Chapter 140

• Alexis sat at the edge of her bed, her fingers clutching her phone as her mind hustled. The e-mail from the bank had been sitting in her inbox for hours, the head line alone enough to bend her stomach: "Suspicious Action on Your Joint Account." She knew it was time to stop overlooking the ruddy banners she'd been waving away for months. Her fiancé, Matthew, had been acting funny, and now she had the proof.
• She wavered for a minute before opening her phone. Immediately the e-mail opened, a protuberance shaped in her throat. There were numerous withdrawals, each bigger than the final. To begin with $100,000 then $300,000. By the time she looked over to the end, the total amount was over $2 million, gone from the savings they’d been building for their wedding. Her heart sank more deeply with each figure. Matthew had promised they were in this together, sparing for their future. And now, he had depleted the account without a word. Her jaw fixed.
• She tried to think of excuses, maybe he had a crisis, perhaps he needed the cash urgently, but her intestine told her something else. This wasn’t the first time things with Matthew had done this. It felt off. He had been coming home late, brushing off her questions about his disposition, and continuously appeared hesitant at whatever point funds came up.