Morri

I was back in the

yu beef with a heavy chef's knife. The blade slid effortlessly throu

nk, suddenly vibrated. The ca

rth

s mot

. *Her shrill, demanding voice always reminded me of my greedy aunts, screeching and

blood off my hands with a towel.

y voice dripping with pr

here is getting unbearable. My old mink coat is practically shed

r a new one. I just hummed sympathetically. "That's terrib

her end. Realizing her subtle begging

needs startup capital. Have your trust fund wire five hundred thousand dollars to my acco

lood pooling on t

tha," I said softly. "A transfer that size requires

ut how the world works! Knox is going to be a fully tenured professor at MIT! He is going to

her ego. "You're absolutely right. Kno

the IRS audits a sudden half-million-dollar 'research' transfer to his mother, it

lent for three seconds. "We... we are family! How

thed. "I'll figure out a way to bypass the trust and u

d, her arrogance returning instantly

d scrubbed the screen of my

ed laptop. I bypassed my family's domestic accounts and

bank. Instead, I wired exactly $500,000 into

emo line, I typed in all caps: *

ctivated a hidden financial tracking script I had purchased on the D

ater, my phon

brating with excitement. "I just saw t

ing my tone perfectly innocent. "I know s

ssing a single beat. "This is exactly what the lab

h he lied to my face. "Don't work too lat

I turned my eyes back

$500,000 had sat in the joint account for

ney into three

00 went to Martha'

0 went to a local B

e hundred thousand dollars was routed into a high-risk ma

tal firm in Silicon Valley. Knox wasn't just stealing my money to fund his famil

up the cutting board and dumped the expensiv

t down, letting the freezing liquid ground me. K

For every penny you swallow