Chapter 6: The Threat That Arrived at Midnight
Abby was at her kitchen table when the message came in.
It was 12:14 in the morning.
She had her brother Danny's tuition invoice open on her laptop and a cold cup of tea at her elbow.
She had not been able to sleep since leaving the penthouse.
Julian Cross had given her his direct number and told her Marcus would be in touch about next steps.
She had nodded and walked to the subway and sat on the train for four stops past her station before she noticed.
The message was from a number she didn't know.
*You talked to him.
Big mistake.
Walk away from whatever he's asked you to do or your brother's scholarship application gets flagged for academic fraud.
I have people at the university.
This is a one-time offer.*
Abby read it twice.
Her hands were very still on the table.
Then she took a screenshot.
She opened Julian's number.
It was past midnight.
She typed: *I need to show you something.
It can wait until morning if needed.* She stared at it for a moment, then sent it.
His reply came in forty seconds.
*Call me now.*
She called.
He picked up on the first ring.
"Read it to me."
She read it.
A pause.
Not long.
"Forward the screenshot to this number.
Then forward it to Marcus — I'll have him text you his contact."
"Julian." It was the first time she'd used his name.
"My brother has nothing to do with any of this."
"I know."
"If someone flags his application—"
"They won't." His voice was steady.
"The scholarship office at Northeastern has a compliance liaison.
I know her.
I'll make a call first thing in the morning and make sure Danny's file is flagged for protection, not scrutiny.
Nobody touches it."
Abby pressed her fingers against her eyes.
"You can do that."
"Yes."
"Just like that."
"Just like that." A brief pause.
"I'm sorry this came to your door.
This is Holt.
He made a call after I left his office.
We were monitoring his outgoing communications — we just didn't move fast enough."
"You were monitoring his phone?"
"My legal team was.
It's within scope of the fraud investigation." Another pause.
"Abby.
Are you safe where you are?"
The question landed differently than she expected.
Not like a formality.
Like someone actually wanting to know.
"I'm fine," she said.
"I'm at home."
"Is there someone who can stay with you tonight?"
"I don't need—"
"I'm not asking because I think you can't handle it.
I'm asking because Holt is cornered and cornered people make poor decisions, and I would feel better knowing you weren't alone."
Abby looked around her small kitchen.
The leaking wall in the bedroom.
Danny's soccer trophy on the shelf above the stove, the only thing of his she'd kept when he moved into the dorms.
Pearl's feather duster hanging on the hook by the door.
"My neighbor has a key," she said.
"I'll knock on her door."
"Good." A pause.
"Try to sleep.
Marcus will call you at eight."
"Julian."
"Yes."
"Why does any of this matter to you?" She hadn't planned to ask it.
"You run the test.
You find out who takes the money.
You move on.
That's the system.
I passed the test and now I'm getting threatening texts at midnight.
That wasn't supposed to be part of it."
The silence on the line was different from the silences in the office.
This one was longer.
More considered.
"No," he said finally.
"It wasn't."
"So why—"
"Because you left a note," he said.
"And I've been sitting with that note for six hours and I still don't entirely know what to do with it." Another pause.
"Get some sleep, Abby."
He ended the call.
Abby sat at the kitchen table for another minute.
Then she got up, knocked on her neighbor Rosa's door, and explained just enough.
Rosa came in with a blanket and her knitting and settled into the armchair in the living room without asking a single unnecessary question.
Abby went to bed.
She didn't sleep well.
But she slept.
May you like
What she didn't know was that at 1:30 in the morning, Julian Cross was still at his desk, and the note — her note, the torn piece of notepad paper — was sitting in front of him under the lamp.
He had not put it away.
