CHAPTER SEVENTY – THE DIRT IS IN THE DETAILS

Jasmine froze, ears straining for any sounds from the corridor beyond, but the only noise was the thudding of her own pulse. The documents scattered across the desk were like a smoky mirror, murky fragments of transactions and coded notations reflecting back at Jasmine – a warped, fractured glimpse at the sordid underbelly she had sensed lurking beneath Nancy's polished facade. Her hands trembled as she reached for the topmost page, hardly daring to breathe as she scanned the dense legalese. Financial ledgers detailing the movement of staggering sums...coded references to "merchandise" and "product"...even photographs paperclipped to the dossier, grainy images of tractor trailers and nondescript warehouses. It was all there, laid out in cold, incontrovertible print – evidence of Nancy's deep enmeshment in something far more nefarious than petty jealousy and social climbing. Something criminal on a massive scale. The stark realization made Jasmine's head spin, her throat constricti