Chapter 1 - THE UNLIMITED BLACK CARD
On Nancy Carter’s first morning working for a billionaire, Edward Townsend placed a black credit card in her hand and said six words that should have changed her life.
“There is no spending limit.”
Nancy stared at the card.
Then she looked at the man who owned it.
Edward Townsend stood on the other side of the marble kitchen island in a white dress shirt with the sleeves folded precisely to his elbows. At forty-two, he had the composed face of a man accustomed to signing documents worth more than most people earned in a lifetime.
Behind him, sunlight poured through twenty-foot windows overlooking the desert hills outside Scottsdale, Arizona.
The house had eight bedrooms.
Eleven bathrooms.
A wine room Nancy could have fit her entire apartment inside.
And according to the woman who had shown Nancy around that morning, Edward had lived there for six years almost entirely alone.
Nancy turned the card over.
Her name was not on it.
Just Edward Townsend’s.
“What exactly is this for?” she asked.
“Household purchases. Groceries. Cleaning products. Maintenance. Anything the property needs.”
“And I ask you before I use it?”
“No.”
Nancy frowned.
Edward almost smiled.
“I thought that part might bother you.”
“It does.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s your money.”
“That’s why I hired you.”
Nancy slipped the card carefully into the small zippered section of her purse.
“I’ll keep receipts.”
“That isn’t necessary.”
“It is to me.”
For the first time, Edward’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Nancy noticed.
“Do whatever makes you comfortable,” he said.
What Nancy did not know was that upstairs, behind a walnut door at the end of the west hallway, Edward already had a file with her name on it.
Nancy Carter.
Integrity Audit.
And before she left the kitchen, Edward’s chief household administrator, Valerie Hale, was waiting inside his office.
“Well?” Valerie asked after Edward entered.
“She seems careful.”
“They all seem careful on day one.”
Edward sat behind his desk.
Valerie placed a slim folder in front of him.
Nancy’s employment history.
Five years of housekeeping.
No criminal record.
No unusual debt.
No employment complaints.
Nothing suspicious.
“The last three candidates looked good on paper, too,” Valerie reminded him.
Edward remembered.
One had used his card to buy gift cards and hidden them inside grocery purchases.
Another inflated cleaning invoices and split the difference with a supplier.
The third had ordered a $2,700 handbag online, then claimed the transaction must have been fraudulent.
All three had happened within ten days.
“How long do you think this one lasts?” Valerie asked.
Edward looked toward the window.
“Two weeks.”
Valerie smiled faintly.
“I’ll have the first transaction report Friday.”
Neither of them knew Nancy Carter was about to do something with Edward’s unlimited card that no employee had ever done before.
She was going to spend less.
A lot less.
By the end of her first week, Nancy had reorganized the pantry, changed three household suppliers and discovered the estate was paying almost thirty percent too much for cleaning products.
She drove eight miles farther to buy produce at a smaller market because strawberries were two dollars cheaper per carton.
She used digital coupons.
She compared detergent prices.
She even returned unopened cases of imported sparkling water after learning Edward preferred ordinary filtered water anyway.
On Friday afternoon, Valerie entered Edward’s office holding a spreadsheet.
“You need to see this.”
Edward looked up.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“That sounds ominous.”
Valerie set the report down.
“Nancy spent forty-three percent less than your previous housekeeper during her first week.”
Edward studied the numbers.
Every receipt had been matched.
Every item served a legitimate household purpose.
No cash withdrawals.
No gift cards.
No suspicious purchases.
“She keeps her own ledger,” Valerie added.
“What?”
“A notebook. Every purchase. Store, date, price, purpose. She even notes when another store had a lower price.”
Edward leaned back.
May you like
“Why?”
“She says because it isn’t her money.”
