Chapter 6 - The Pawn's Move
By Day Eleven, Ava turned her attention to Chloe Bennett.
Grant was the primary villain of this story, but Chloe had been an active, gleeful participant. She had sat at Ava's dining table, drunk Ava's wine, complimented Ava's home decor, and then laughed on a live microphone about stealing ninety thousand dollars from a family savings account.
Ava was not going to let Chloe walk away as a collateral survivor.
On Thursday morning, Ava scheduled a private lunch at an upscale Italian restaurant near the Briarstone Capital building. She invited Chloe directly, sending her a warm, personal text message:
“Hi Chloe! I’m downtown for an agency presentation and would love to catch up over lunch! My treat! - Ava”
When Chloe walked into the restaurant thirty minutes later, she looked sleek, confident, and completely in control. She wore a tailored white cream suit, red lipstick, and carried a three-thousand-dollar designer handbag—bought with funds drawn from Apex Financial Holdings.
"Ava!" Chloe exclaimed, stepping forward to give her a polite, hypocritical air-kiss on both cheeks. "This is such a lovely surprise! How are you holding up with all the birthday planning?"
"Oh, I'm wonderful, Chloe," Ava said warmly, gesturing for her to sit down at the secluded corner booth. "Just slightly overwhelmed with Grant’s work schedule lately. He’s been working so many late nights."
Chloe took a sip of her sparkling water, her eyes flashing with a brief, hidden glimmer of smug satisfaction. "Well, you know how Grant is. He’s dedicated to his accounts. Briarstone demands a lot from its senior strategists."
"I know," Ava sighed, leaning across the white tablecloth, her expression turning open, vulnerable, and deeply trusting. "That's actually why I wanted to talk to you today, Chloe. I need your advice."
Chloe paused, setting her glass down carefully. "My advice?"
"Grant trusts you so much," Ava said, holding Chloe’s gaze with absolute sincerity. "He tells me how brilliant you are with financial structuring. And... well, I’ve been noticed some strange things lately."
Chloe's posture stiffened slightly. The color in her cheeks paled just a fraction. "Strange things?"
"Yes," Ava whispered, leaning closer. "I found some documents in Grant’s home office last week. Files belonging to an entity called Lumina Management LLC in Nevada."
Chloe stopped breathing. Her hand clenched tightly around her linen napkin beneath the table.
"I don't know much about financial law," Ava continued, her voice trembling with manufactured anxiety. "But these files show that Grant has been moving huge sums of money from Briarstone client accounts into Lumina. And... Chloe, I'm terrified."
"Terrified of what?" Chloe managed to ask, her voice suddenly tight and dry.
"I'm terrified Grant is getting set up by someone at the firm!" Ava gasped, her eyes filling with fake tears. "I think someone senior at Briarstone is using Grant’s credentials to embezzle money into Nevada! If the SEC finds out, Grant could go to federal prison!"
Chloe stared at Ava in absolute shock.
She watched the weeping, desperate woman sitting across from her—the woman Grant had called "too gullible to look at offshore statements."
Chloe’s manipulative mind instantly began recalculating the board. She didn't think Ava suspect Grant. She thought Ava believed Grant was an innocent victim of a corporate frame-up.
"Ava..." Chloe said softly, her mind racing at light speed. "Did you... did you tell Grant you found these files?"
"No!" Ava sobbed quietly, wiping her eye with a tissue. "I was too scared! I know how fragile he is right now. That's why I came to you. You work right beside him. If there are secondary authorization keys... if there are corporate signatures from Nevada... you need to help me protect him!"
Chloe reached across the table, taking Ava's hand in hers, her eyes shining with sudden, predatory ambition.
If Grant was being investigated, Chloe needed to secure her own exit. She needed to make sure her name was removed from the Delaware LLC before the hammer fell.
"Ava," Chloe said smoothly, her voice dropping into a comforting purr. "You did the right thing coming to me. Don't say a word to Grant. Let me handle the internal records at Briarstone. I will make sure Grant’s name is completely protected."
"Oh, thank you, Chloe!" Ava cried, squeezing her hand. "You are such a true friend!"
As Chloe walked out of the restaurant ten minutes later, pulling her phone out to frantically call her private banker, Ava sat alone in the booth.
She picked up her glass of wine, took a slow, satisfying sip, and smiled.
May you like
She had just placed the secondary trap. Chloe was about to access the Lumina accounts from her corporate workstation at Briarstone to attempt to transfer her share out of Nevada—an action that would log her IP address directly into the SEC surveillance monitor Marcus Vance had established three hours earlier.
The mistress had just walked right into the vault.
