He kissed me tenderly. I returned the kiss, tasting ash on my lips. In that second, I realized I no longer felt anything for him. Not love, not resentment. Only a cold, ringing desire for justice. He thought he was weaving a web. He didn’t know I had already set a trap for him.
The next day, as soon as I got to work, I dialed the only number that could help me.
— Alisa, it’s urgent! “Coffeemania” on Bolshaya Vasilnovskaya. In an hour.
— Lera, I have a meeting in an hour and a half, — her business-like voice came through the phone.
Alisa Kovaleva is my best friend and, by a happy coincidence, the head of security at our bank.
— Cancel it. This concerns both of us.
My tone worked. An hour later, we were sitting at a corner table. I ordered a double espresso. My hands were shaking slightly.
— Well, what’s the apocalypse? — Alisa looked at me with concern. — You’re as pale as a ghost. Yegor?
I nodded silently and laid it all out. About the tickets, about Snezhana, about his lie about the airport. Alisa listened, clenching her fists.
— That scoundrel! I always knew he was a slippery character. Lera, I’ll run this Titova through all the databases right now. We’ll get him…
— Don’t. — I interrupted her. — I don’t want to catch him. I want to punish him. And I need your help. — I took a sip of the scalding coffee and looked her straight in the eye. — We have a joint account. It holds everything we’ve saved over eight years. Almost nine million. He’s going to fly business class, withdraw every last penny, and leave me with nothing.
— Then block the account. Right now. Call support. Say the card is lost, — Alisa hissed.
— Too simple. He’ll realize I know everything. He’ll cause a scene, start dividing property. No, I’ll do it differently.
And I told her my plan. As I spoke, her eyes grew wider and wider. When I finished, she was silent for a few seconds, staring at me as if I were crazy.
— Lera, are you out of your mind? — she finally breathed out. — Do you realize what this is? Arranging a credit overdraft on your joint account with a ten-million limit? Without his knowledge? That’s a violation! You’ll be fired for cause at best, or jailed at worst.
— No one will find out. — My mind was ice-cold. — I’m a leading specialist in the credit department. I know all the loopholes. I have Yegor’s signature on the general service agreement. It mentions consent to bank offers in the fine print. I’ll process it as a special pre-approved offer for a VIP client. Everything will be clean.
— Clean? — Alisa nearly jumped out of her seat. — Our security system will detect an operation like this instantly. An application without the client’s knowledge, such a limit — it will be blocked in five minutes, and internal control will come to me, and from me — to you.
— That’s why I need you. — I leaned towards her across the table. — I need you to add this operation to the “whitelist” for half an hour, so the system lets it through as a scheduled transaction. You can do it. I know you can.
She looked at me, shaking her head.
— Lera, this is insane. This is the end of your career. Our careers.
— He took eight years from me, Alisa. He walked all over me. He thinks I’m a stupid chicken who can be fooled with a fairy tale about the airport. I won’t let him walk away the winner. Are you with me?
I saw the struggle in her eyes. Fear, doubt, but also anger for me, for our friendship. She knew what I had been through with his startups, how I had worked my fingers to the bone while he was “finding himself.”
— To hell with you, Petrova! — she finally gritted out. — Half an hour, no more. But if we get caught, I’ll say you blackmailed me.
I smiled for the first time in 24 hours.
— Deal.
The counter-operation was launched. That evening, I acted like the perfect wife. I helped Yegor pack his small suitcase for his business trip, packing his favorite shirts, ironed to a crisp.
— Do you need anything else? — I asked, carefully placing his toiletry bag.
— No, sweetie, everything’s perfect. — He hugged me from behind. — You’re the best. What will I do without you for these five days?..
Comments are closed.