Rise to Power: The Miraculous Liam Regan.

Chapter 15

For a second, Liam felt as though his heart had forgotten how to beat.

The world around him seemed to freeze. The low murmur in the bank, the shuffling of feet, the hum of the machines everything dulled into a distant blur. All he could hear was the echo of her words.

“Zero...”

"No."

No, that was impossible.

His lips parted, but for a moment, no sound came out. When he finally found his voice, it came shaky and strained, thick with disbelief.

“What… what do you mean there’s nothing in that account?” he demanded.

“What do you mean?” His breathing became uneven. “No no, this has to be a joke. There has to be some kind of mistake. Are you trying to.”

The attendant cut him off sharply, her expression turning colder.

“ Young man,” she snapped, “do I look like someone who would bluff about this? Or do I look like someone who doesn’t know what she’s saying?”

She jabbed a finger at the screen in front of her.

“You have zero money in this account. Completely zero. So what exactly do you want me to tell you? Do you want me to magically create figures that do not exist?”

Her voice was loud enough for the nearby customers to hear, and a few heads turned in their direction.

But Liam barely noticed.

He still couldn’t process it. His mind was spinning too wildly, trying to make sense of something that made no sense at all.

The last time he had checked that account four months ago there had been money in it. A lot of money. Not a fortune by the standards of the wealthy, but enough to matter. Enough to protect. Enough to cling to.

And he had never touched it, not once.

He had left it there carefully, almost reverently, because part of it belonged to his mother. If she recovered fully, he had planned to give it back to her. It was hers as much as his. He had guarded it in silence, adding to it whenever he could, believing it would one day become something meaningful. Something safe.

So how— How was it possible?

His thoughts stumbled over themselves. His chest tightened.

Then he looked up at the attendant again, desperation spilling into his voice.

“This has to be a misunderstanding,” he said. “A very big misunderstanding.” He swallowed hard, forcing himself to stay calm. “If this is because I helped that woman—” he said, pointing toward the old lady, “and you’re saying this because of that, then I’m sorry. I’m terribly sorry. But there is money in that account. Please… check it again.”

At Liam’s words, the attendant’s expression darkened instantly. Her patience, if she had possessed any at all, vanished.

“I can’t stand people like you,” she said sharply, her voice dripping with contempt. “People who think they’re clever when they are clearly not. You come in here acting as if you know better, wasting my time, when the truth is right in front of your face.”

She tapped the screen with one long nail, each click sounding like a hammer striking Liam’s nerves.

“The money in this account is gone,” she said. “All of it. Every single cent. Not withdrawn—transferred. The entire balance was moved out about eighteen hours ago. And now you come into the bank to create a nuisance?”

Her eyes narrowed as if she had found pleasure in his shock.

Then she gave a mocking little laugh.

“Well, just to show you how utterly foolish and useless you are, I’ll even tell you where it went.”

She glanced back at the monitor and read out the receiving account holder’s name.

“Emily.”

The moment the name left her lips, it was as if ice flooded Liam’s veins.

His whole body went cold.

For one long, terrible second, he couldn’t breathe.

Emily.

Of all names, it had to be hers.

His ex-wife. The woman who had already taken his house, his trust, his dignity. The woman who had signed papers behind his back and watched his life collapse without a hint of remorse.

And now this too, the secret account.

The one place he had believed was safe. The one thing he had hidden carefully, protected quietly, trusted desperately. He had thought that account was beyond her reach. He had believed she knew nothing about it.

But she had known, somehow, she had known.

And she had emptied it. Taken everything. Left nothing behind for him.