24

Monday had never been her favorite day of the week, and today Rochelle liked it even less. After spending the weekend at home, alone, she’d dragged herself into the office in order to present the evidence against Zach to her boss. However, it turned out that Yochum wasn’t due in the office until the afternoon. It meant she had a short grace period left before she had to throw Zach under the bus. Not that those few hours would help her in any way to alleviate her bad feelings about the entire situation. It only meant that she had time to kill. She used it to complete the Ivers International file.

As soon as the courts had opened that morning, she’d sent Antonio there to get a subpoena to require the Inter Commerce and Trade Bank to comply with the SEC’s request for information on who had opened the bank account in question. Once they had those documents, they would be able to prove that Zach was behind it, even though he hadn’t used his own name to open the account. It would be the final nail in the coffin of his innocence.

“Nicole, do you have the list of all of Ivers International’s subsidiaries? I can’t find it,” she called over the divider between her cubicle and that of her colleague.

Nicole popped her head up. “Antonio spilled coffee on it. I’ll print you a new one in a sec.”

A moment later, the printer behind Rochelle hummed and spit out one sheet. She snatched it. “Thanks.”

She scanned it briefly and was about to put it in the file folder, when her eyes caught on a name.

Zinfluence.

Her heart stopped beating. That was why the name had sounded so familiar. Zinfluence was one of Zach’s companies. It was the company Steve was starting at today.

“Oh my God!”

“Something wrong?” Nicole asked immediately.

“No, no, everything’s fine.” But nothing was fine.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that her brother had suddenly received a job offer from one of Zach’s companies. She didn’t believe in coincidences like that. Zach had to be behind this. She had told him about her brother, and he knew that Steve had money trouble and was unemployed. Had Zach given her brother a chance for her sake? Had he done it in order to influence her in any way?

Rochelle shook her head. That was impossible. If Zach had intended that, why would he have offered Steve the job behind her back? If he’d intended on gaining favor with her, he would have asked her to connect him with Steve and told her that he wanted to offer him a job.

But he’d done all this in secret, as if he hadn’t even wanted her to know.

And the loan shark? Rochelle hadn’t believed for a second that the loan shark had forgiven Steve’s debt, but she hadn’t dug deeper. What if it had been Zach who’d paid off Steve’s debts without her brother knowing?

Oh Zach, did you really do that?

These acts didn’t really fit with the picture of a man against whom she had evidence of insider trading. But they fit with the man who continued to profess his innocence.

The ringing of the telephone on her desk pulled her from her thoughts.

“Rochelle Wright,” she answered.

“It’s me, Zach. Please don’t hang up. What I have to say is important.”

She swallowed hard and had difficulties uttering a coherent sentence. “What is—”

“I have to show you something.”

“What?”

“Proof that I’m innocent. Henderson will pick you up in the limousine.”

“But—”

“Please trust me. Just this once. After that you can do what you want and I will never bother you again. You owe me this. And you owe it to yourself.”

She hesitated, while her eyes wandered back to the list of subsidiaries in front of her. Zinfluence, she read again. Something was going on, and the more she thought about Steve’s new job, the more doubts about Zach’s guilt crept in. Could she really deny him this one wish?

“Please.” His voice conjured up memories of bliss and reminded her of the happy hours she’d spent with him.

Before her brain could register that she’d already made her decision, the words rolled over her lips. “Right now?”

“He’s waiting downstairs in front of the building for you. You can’t miss him.”

There was a click in the line, and Zach was gone.

She was still holding the receiver in her hand. Her heart pounded in her chest all the way up to her throat, and she felt her palms perspire. Had she made the right decision?

“Nicole, I’ve got to run a quick errand. When Antonio comes back with the subpoena, please wait for me before you head to the bank, ok?” She rose and grabbed her handbag.