Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 50402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
“The third floor, Steele. Let me handle this. You promised.”
“I won’t come in unless you call me or I see trouble. Then all promises are void.”
“Thank you, Daddy. It may take a while.”
“I have nothing more pressing to take care of, Little girl.”
He released her leg, and Ivy forced herself to leave the safe bubble that Steele always wrapped around her. Her head had recovered a lot from the tension rising from her conversation with Mr. Harris. She walked slowly as she calmed her racing heart with deep breaths. She could do this.
Stepping inside the elevator, Ivy forced herself to smile at a professionally dressed executive who joined her just before the doors closed. She tried to picture Steele dressed in the expensive suit this man wore so well and had to stifle a laugh. Steele would look amazing, but she could already imagine his annoyed scowl.
Getting off at the third floor, Ivy walked down the hall to the CEO’s office and checked in with his administrative assistant before taking a seat in the lush outer space. She glanced at the clock several times as she waited, knowing that Steele bristled more with every minute that passed.
I’m waiting to go into the meeting. Sorry for the delay.
Be safe.
“Ms. Jenkins. Mr. Morton will see you now,” the administrative assistant announced and stood to open the door into the inner office.
Carrying the folder by her side, Ivy crossed her fingers, hoping everything would turn out well.
“Mr. Morton, thank you for meeting with me.”
“Ms. Jenkins, may I call you Ivy?”
“Of course.”
“Please call me Richard.”
Ivy smiled. “Thank you, Richard.”
She perched on the edge of the seat and waited until he sat and looked at her. “Since the disappearance of the money from that account, I’ve tried to be vigilant to anything that appeared out of the norm. You may be aware that I was abducted from the bank as I left about a week ago. They taped my mouth when I refused to turn over the codes they demanded. I feared for my life as I was bound and wrapped in a sack before the three attackers threw me into the dumpster of The Hangout. Had a member of the Shadowridge Guardians not investigated the banging coming from the dumpster, I could have ended up in a compactor truck and killed.”
“I saw the police report. How are you feeling? I know the doctor wanted you to have time away from electronics for your brain to heal,” Mr. Morton said with a concerned expression.
Something was off. His concern didn’t reach his eyes. Hoping it was just her imagination, Ivy answered, “I am much better than immediately after the incident. It was terrifying, and I know I’ll never forget being tormented.”
“And your share of the codes is what got you attacked?”
“Since they continue to demand my codes, yes.”
“That’s concerning.”
“It is. Let me share with you the information I’ve gathered.” She opened the folder and placed the first sheet on his desk.
“Differences in bank usage among age groups? I don’t understand…”
“I hid the information I found in this report. Look at the first line. Those are an account number. Would you type it into your computer and we’ll look at it?”
Mr. Morton shook his head as if this were a crazy waste of time but turned to his computer and typed in the number. An account popped up with a balance of two hundred and forty-seven dollars. “What am I looking at, Ivy?”
“Leave that window open and open the account of the next set of numbers.”
“Almost four million dollars.”
“Look at the date.”
When he looked up at her with a serious expression, she continued, “I can track the movement of money from inactive accounts like the one we found previously and this smaller one that originally held a bit over five thousand dollars into the multimillion-dollar account. Someone did it using one of the codes divided up between the three of us for access. It does not match with my codes.”
“Is this code listed on this page?” Mr. Morton asked.
“It is the sample number of the survey listed about midway down the page.”
She watched him trail a finger down the document until he reached that line. His finger froze there as he read the code. “Do you know whose code this is?”
“If it isn’t yours, it must be Mr. Harris’s. Would you like to start a conference call with him?”
“Not at the present.” He brushed off that suggestion before requesting, “Tell me. I’m assuming this document has other account examples. Who else have you shared this information with?”
“There is only one other copy of that information. It is in the quarters of the president of the Shadowridge Guardians,” Ivy shared.
“That is in violation of bank regulations.”
“I have been abducted, thrown into a dumpster to be crushed, and chased by maniacs in a white van. To be honest, possibly breaking bank violations is the least of my worries. The file will remain untouched there as long as I am safe.”