Chapter 4 - The Account Hannah Was Afraid to Open
Hannah had discovered the other withdrawals that morning.
That was what started the argument that put her in the hospital.
Not jealousy.
Not a fight over another woman.
Money.
For nearly a year, Hannah had handled sponsor invoices for Dustin because he hated paperwork.
She had access to his promotional accounts, travel reimbursements, and endorsement deposits.
What she did not know was that Dustin had also obtained access to a savings account Hannah inherited from her mother.
My wife, Laura, died six years earlier.
She left Hannah just under sixty thousand dollars.
Not a fortune.
Enough for a down payment someday.
Enough to matter.
Dustin knew the account existed.
Hannah had never given him authorization to touch it.
Four transfers totaling twenty-two thousand dollars had been made over seven months.
Each transfer went first into Dustin's personal account.
Then somewhere else.
Hannah had noticed them while checking her balance before work.
When she confronted him in their kitchen, he said the money was an investment in “their future.”
She demanded to see where it went.
He refused.
Then the argument became physical.
That was the piece Hannah had been unwilling to say aloud in front of the doctor.
I wanted to ask why she hadn't called the police immediately.
I didn't.
She already looked ashamed enough.
Instead I asked whether she had bank statements.
“Yes.”
“May I see them?”
That mattered.
May I.
Not give them to me.
Not let me handle it.
She nodded.
We reviewed the transfers together.
One destination appeared repeatedly after the money moved through Dustin’s account.
Pierce Performance Management LLC.
Coach Pierce.
I sat back.
Hannah stared at the screen.
“I thought it was the gym.”
“It might be.”
But Pierce Performance Management was not the legal name displayed on the gym's website.
That was Iron Harbor MMA.
I searched Virginia corporate records from my phone.
Pierce Performance Management existed.
Pierce owned it.
Its registered address was his home.
Hannah looked sick.
The next morning she called her bank's fraud department herself.
Not me.
She reported unauthorized access.
They froze online transfers while investigating and told her what documentation they would need.
Then she called an attorney recommended by the hospital advocate.
Again, herself.
I drove.
I waited outside.
That afternoon, Evan texted me.
I had given him my number in the parking lot.
You should know Dustin isn't the only fighter paying Pierce personally.
I showed Hannah.
She frowned.
“Management fees?”
“Maybe.”
Then another message arrived.
But Dustin's not supposed to know I told you. Pierce keeps records in a private fighter portal. I can show Hannah my own account if she wants.
I looked at my daughter.
She read the message twice.
May you like
Then she said something I had been waiting to hear since the hospital.
“I want to know where my money went.”
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