Urban Romance

The text was short, with just one line.

"Audrey, your dad's three-million-dollar debt is due."

I gripped my phone tightly, my mind racing in disbelief.

My dad passed away three years ago. He'd always told me there were no debts while he was alive, so how could a sudden three-million-dollar liability just appear out of nowhere?

"Audrey Lindth! What are you staring at? Hand over the money!"

Cecilia's shout snapped me out of my daze. She yanked me by the arm. "This is millions of dollars! If you try to keep it for yourself, the rest of us are screwed!"

"I didn't…" My voice shook. "I've told you before, the money in my account keeps disappearing suddenly, but I don't know why…"

"Stop lying!"

A colleague, Jamie Sinclair, reached forward and grabbed my phone, furiously tapping the screen. "I don't believe money can just vanish! You must've moved it somewhere!"

Others crowded around, a

The police told me there had been some progress in the case. The missing funds seemed to have been traced back to a single account. They sent over the relevant information and asked me to look through it for any clues, then report back immediately.

I quickly shared the details with everyone, and their eyes all lit up.

The finance lead's expression darkened. "This looks like a clandestine deduction! It can silently siphon off money without leaving any trace or record. Isn't this a tactic used in offshore money laundering? How could it show up domestically?"

She turned and glared at me. "Audrey, did you secretly sign some automatic deduction agreement and hide it from us?"

"I swear I didn't!"

I frowned. I had heard of clandestine deduction before, but how could this be happening with my account?

Could this have something to do with that text message?

I looked up at Justine. "Can you

My colleagues bombarded the chat with question marks.

Cecilia didn't hold back.

"Audrey, Ms. Shaw handed you the cash in front of everyone yesterday, and now you're saying it just disappeared? If you're trying to scam Ms. Shaw, just admit it. You don't need to come up with such a lame excuse."

Others joined in immediately.

"Audrey, first you said you didn't get paid, and now the money magically vanished? That's just insane."

"Even if we wanted to trust you, there's a limit, right? You can't keep dragging this out."

...

I typed frantically, trying to explain myself, but the flood of accusations drowned out my words.

Finally, Justine intervened. "Enough! I'll cover it for you this time. But Audrey, this is the last time."

I felt a mix of relief and gratitude, apologizing repeatedly. After all, yesterday's events had already shown that the problem was on my end.

Then, the police called. They'd gone through the banking system with a fine-tooth comb but found no issues or signs of tampering.

My account was perfectly normal.

The money had just disappeared—like it was never there.

Scientifically, this was impossible, so they said they'd continue investigating.

After hanging up, I was even more unsettled, but I had no idea this was far from over.

That day, a client needed to make a large transfer. As there was an issue with the business account, we had to temporarily receive the amount on a personal card and then transfer it into the company account.

I was the only one with a card on hand, and despite explaining the strange events that had been happening recently, no one believed me. They thought I was making it all up, and I was forced to go ahead with the transaction.

As soon as the client wired millions into my card, I immediately started transferring it to the company account.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the millions in my account vanished.

Staring at the empty balance, everyone was shocked.

The next second, all eyes turned to me with fury.

"Audrey! Are you out of your mind? How dare you move company funds in front of all of us?"

"Call the cops! She has to be arrested!"

...

I was losing it as everyone's anger erupted around me.

Why? Why did the money disappear every time it went into my account?

Just then, my phone buzzed with a new text message.

I looked down at the screen, and my mind went into overdrive.

And then, it hit me.

The text was short, with just one line.

"Audrey, your dad's three-million-dollar debt is due."

I gripped my phone tightly, my mind racing in disbelief.

My dad passed away three years ago. He'd always told me there were no debts while he was alive, so how could a sudden three-million-dollar liability just appear out of nowhere?

"Audrey Lindth! What are you staring at? Hand over the money!"

Cecilia's shout snapped me out of my daze. She yanked me by the arm. "This is millions of dollars! If you try to keep it for yourself, the rest of us are screwed!"

"I didn't…" My voice shook. "I've told you before, the money in my account keeps disappearing suddenly, but I don't know why…"

"Stop lying!"

A colleague, Jamie Sinclair, reached forward and grabbed my phone, furiously tapping the screen. "I don't believe money can just vanish! You must've moved it somewhere!"

Others crowded around, and that was when they saw the text.

Cecilia's eyes widened in surprise, then she sneered.

"Wow, Au

Chapter 5