Chapter 521

“This is the old double-entry bookkeeping system. It looks complicated,” Debra said, squinting at the thick ledgers before her.

“You can understand it?” Marion asked, surprised.

“Sort of,” she replied, her eyes still fixed on the pages. “I haven’t seen this in a long time, so I’ll need to refamiliarize myself.”

Debra examined the books closely. Beside her, Marion watched her serious expression.

“I didn’t realize you were so skilled. You even know how to handle this kind of bookkeeping.”

Debra smiled, but gave him a playful eye roll.

“Did you forget what I studied? I majored in finance. If I can’t read these books, how could I ever manage a company?”

Despite her light tone, Debra felt a wave of gratitude toward Juan. In her past life, she had loved him deeply and worked tirelessly to learn everything about finance to help him. She’d absorbed knowledge quickly back then. If not for that foundation, she wouldn’t understand any of this now.

As she studied the ledgers, her brow furrowed. “Something’s off with these books.”

Marion leaned closer, concern in his voice. “What do you mean?”

“The numbers in these accounts… they don’t add up,” she explained, flipping to a specific page. “Look here. The Houston family’s foreign goods business shows an annual income of 300 thousand dollars. But the expenditures? 600 thousand. Where did the extra 300 thousand go?”

Debra pointed out another entry. “And the Frazier family, our main business was cosmetics. Our income for the year was 100 thousand dollars, but the expenditures are double that.”

She continued scanning the pages, her fingers tracing the columns of numbers. “Osborne family? Agricultural business. Yearly income: 200 thousand dollars. Expenditures, 400 thousand. Again, double.” Finally, Debra reached the ledger for the Potter family. “Now, look at this one. Their total annual income was 1.2 million dollars, but the expenditure column is blank.”

Marion’s eyes narrowed. “You mean all the money from the other families eventually ended up in the Potter family’s pockets?”

A heavy silence fell as they stared at the incriminating entries. In the first year, all four families reported a loss, double their actual income. In the end, every penny landed in the Potter family’s hands. The four families had all made false books.

Debra said grimly, “If these books are accurate, all we need to do is track the Potter family’s total annual income to realize that they suddenly gained 1.2 million dollars out of nowhere.” 1.2 million dollars back then was equivalent to more than 1.2 billion dollars today. That kind of money would have been an astronomical sum.

A chill ran through the room. The sheer magnitude of the sum was staggering.

“Could this money be the treasure the four families were rumored to be guarding?” Marion wondered aloud.

“It’s possible,” Debra admitted. “But money loses its value over time. Could they really have been fixated on 1.2 million dollars for all these years, dismantling the four great families over such a sum? It seems far-fetched.”

“So, you’re saying that maybe the money was just a smokescreen?” Marion asked.

Debra remained silent for a moment, her mind racing. If such a huge sum was merely a decoy, then the secret hidden behind it must be even more terrifying than she imagined.

The sudden ringing of her phone broke the tense silence. She glanced at the screen. It was Ben calling.

“What’s up?”

“Madam, Mr. Nichols has been trying to reach you. He’s already called several times. He says he can’t get through.”

Debra looked at her phone, puzzled. There were no missed calls from Juan in her call log.

“I haven’t gotten any calls from him.”

Marion cleared his throat, drawing her attention.