They Forced Me to Take the Fall…Then a Billionaire Heir Chose Me!
Chapter 3
Julian took Ava to a private apartment overlooking the city.
It wasn’t the enormous mansion she expected from a billionaire heir.
It was quiet.
Minimal.
Almost empty.
Ava noticed there were no family photographs.
No expensive artwork.
No signs that anyone actually lived there.
Julian locked the door.
“Sit.”
Ava remained standing.
“You said you had proof.”
Julian connected the flash drive to a laptop.
A series of encrypted files appeared.
He opened one.
Ava watched transaction records fill the screen.
Then her face appeared.
Not a photograph.
A security recording.
It showed Ava entering a restricted office at 11:43 p.m.
She stared.
“I wasn’t there.”
“I know.”
The video showed her using her badge.
Then sitting at a computer.
Then transferring money.
Ava whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
Julian paused the video.
“Look closer.”
He zoomed in.
The woman on screen looked almost exactly like Ava.
But there was one difference.
A tiny scar near the left eyebrow.
Ava didn’t have it.
“That’s not me.”
“No.”
“Who is she?”
“We don’t know.”
Julian opened another file.
It contained surveillance footage from three different locations.
The same woman appeared in each.
Using Ava’s identity.
Ava felt sick.
“Someone made a copy of me.”
“Not exactly.”
Julian opened another document.
“This is facial reconstruction technology.”
Ava looked at him.
“How advanced?”
“Advanced enough to fool most security systems.”
“Who has access to that?”
Julian’s expression changed.
“That’s the problem.”
He showed her a list.
Private military contractors.
Government agencies.
Biometric technology companies.
Then one name appeared.
Blackwood International.
Ava stared.
“Your family?”
“My father’s company.”
“Did they build this?”
Julian shook his head.
“They funded the research.”
Ava stood.
“So your family is involved.”
“My family may have funded something without knowing what it would become.”
“That’s convenient.”
Julian didn’t argue.
Instead, he opened another file.
This one contained financial transfers.
The twenty-eight million dollars had moved through Hawthorne.
But the money had eventually been converted into shares of a private company.
The company was owned through offshore trusts.
And the beneficiary was…
Ava stopped breathing.
Blackwood International.
She looked at Julian.
“Your family received the money.”
Julian stared at the screen.
“Yes.”
“Then maybe you should be investigating your own family.”
“I am.”
Ava crossed her arms.
“And what did you find?”
Julian looked at her.
“My father didn’t steal the money.”
“Then who did?”
Julian opened the final file.
A name appeared.
Richard Blackwood.
His older brother.
Ava looked at him.
“Your brother?”
Julian nodded.
“My brother has been secretly selling pieces of the family empire.”
“Why?”
Julian’s voice became quiet.
“Because he’s planning to take control of everything.”
Ava suddenly understood.
She hadn’t been chosen because she was weak.
She had been chosen because she was useful.
Her credentials were the perfect weapon.
Her arrest would hide the real theft.
And Julian’s family would take the blame.
Julian closed the laptop.
“We have less than twenty-four hours.”
“Until what?”
“My brother takes control.”
Ava stared at him.
“And what happens to me?”
Julian looked directly into her eyes.
“If we don’t prove you’re innocent first…”
“You’ll go to prison for twenty-eight million dollars you never touched.”
