Player & the Game Read Online Free PDF

that was in there?”
    â€œIt says there was a transfer as of yesterday of seventeen thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight dollars to another account. It’s not connected to this bank.”
    â€œOh, my God,” Stephanie uttered breathlessly.
    â€œThere was another transfer made from your savings account in the amount of thirty-eight thousand seven hundred and three dollars three days ago to the same account.”
    â€œOh, my God!”
    That was almost 80 percent of her savings!
    Stephanie felt her knees buckle beneath her. She grabbed the counter to steady herself and to keep from collapsing to the floor.
    The teller gazed up at Stephanie. “I can print a receipt if you’d like,” she offered with syrupy sweetness.
    â€œ A receipt? ” Stephanie squeaked as the blood drained from her head. “I don’t want a damn receipt! I want to talk to the manager!”
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    â€œMy money . . . What happened to all my money?” Stephanie muttered dully a half an hour later as her sisters steered her toward the parking lot.
    The bank manager had confirmed the transactions had taken place last night and earlier that week. The funds were sent to some offshore bank in the Caribbean, according to the routing number.
    â€œI can assure you that they were perfectly legal, ma’am,” he had said with pinched lips in an officious tone.
    When she had asked if the transfers could be returned, he said they probably could—but he couldn’t say so for a fact. The bank would have to conduct a fraud investigation. She’d have to file a report with the police and sign an affidavit. After forty-five days, perhaps the fraud department would decide to give her money back. Meanwhile, she had a mortgage and several bills that would go unpaid.
    With Lauren on one arm and Dawn on the other, Stephanie allowed herself to be blindly led to her car, not paying attention or caring where she was being taken. Cynthia brought up the rear, lugging Stephanie’s purse.
    Stephanie looked like a grief-stricken widow mourning the loss of her husband at a funeral. But instead, she was really mourning the loss of her beloved bank account.
    All that money, she thought numbly. All that money is gone. Gone!
    She wanted to weep but couldn’t find the strength!
    â€œDo you know who might have done it?” Dawn inquired, speaking carefully as if her sister was a recovering invalid. “Any idea?”
    â€œNo . . . not all,” Stephanie mumbled.
    â€œMaybe someone saw you type your password on your computer somewhere when you accessed your accounts online,” Lauren suggested. “. . . Is there another way someone could have gained access?”
    Stephanie shook her head. “No, no one else had access to my . . .”
    Her words faded. She stopped in her tracks as a thought suddenly dawned in her addled brain. Her sisters slowed their pace with her.
    â€œWhat?” Cynthia asked. “ What? ”
    â€œSomeone . . . Someone else had access to my accounts.”
    All her sisters gazed at her in astonishment.
    â€œ Who? ” they asked in unison.
    â€œIsaac.”
    Lauren slowly closed her eyes. “Oh, Steph, you didn’t.”
    â€œHe said he needed it so I could make money on this big IPO he had just heard about!” Stephanie shouted hysterically. “He called me in the car one day last week when I was with a client. He said I was going to make lots of money! We had to do it now or I’d miss out! He was looking out for me! He wanted me to buy shares myself, but I reminded him I was busy showing houses all day. I didn’t know how long it would take! So I . . . So I gave him the password to my online shareholder trade account,” she stuttered. Even as she explained it, she realized how ridiculous it sounded. But it seemed totally plausible at the time. “I made five thousand dollars on that investment! But I . . . But I forgot that it also