Chapter 6 - THE MILLION-DOLLAR DISAPPEARANCE
The meeting ended without an agreement.
Julian left first.
Sienna followed him, speaking rapidly as they crossed the hallway.
Richard remained behind.
“Claire, can I speak with you privately?”
Rebecca glanced at me.
“I'll wait outside.”
When the door closed, Richard sat down.
“I want to tell you something about Julian.”
“I already know quite a lot.”
He gave a tired smile.
“Not this.”
He opened his briefcase and removed a financial report.
“Six months ago, we began reviewing irregular payments connected to several marketing vendors. Initially, the amounts were small. Ten thousand here. Twenty thousand there.”
He slid the report toward me.
“By last month, the total had reached approximately 1.8 million dollars.”
I scanned the names.
Three of them matched the companies Rebecca had found.
My stomach tightened.
“Who authorized these payments?”
“Several approvals came from the executive office.”
“Julian?”
“Some did.”
“And Sienna?”
Richard nodded.
I looked at the dates.
The payments began shortly after Sienna joined the company.
“Why didn't you investigate sooner?”
“We did. But every payment had supporting documentation. Vendor agreements. Approval forms. Project references.”
I looked up.
“Under my name?”
Richard nodded again.
For a moment, I couldn't speak.
Someone had used my credentials to make it appear that I had authorized nearly two million dollars in payments.
“Why would they do that?”
“To create a paper trail.”
I stared at the report.
“If I hadn't resigned, would anyone have noticed?”
Richard hesitated.
“Probably not until the next audit.”
I pushed the papers away.
“Julian knew.”
“I suspect he knew there were irregularities. I don't know whether he knew the full extent.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No,” he admitted. “It isn't.”
I stood.
“Richard, I spent seven years building this company with your son. I gave up opportunities, stayed invisible, and protected his reputation. I won't become the person who takes responsibility for something I didn't do.”
“I wouldn't ask you to.”
“Then find the people who did it.”
Richard nodded.
When I walked outside, Rebecca was waiting.
She took one look at my expression.
“What happened?”
I told her.
She didn't interrupt.
When I finished, she said, “We need independent forensic investigators.”
“I agree.”
“And Claire?”
“What?”
“You need to stop thinking of Julian as someone who will eventually come to his senses.”
I looked at her.
“He may already have chosen his side.”
That evening, I moved into a hotel.
Not because I couldn't return to the penthouse.
Because I no longer wanted to sleep in a home where I had spent three years pretending to be someone's secret.
At 11:30, my phone rang.
Julian.
I answered.
“Did my father tell you about the payments?”
“Yes.”
“Then you understand why I need you to cooperate.”
“Cooperate with what?”
“The investigation.”
“I already am.”
“No. You need to explain the Northstar approvals.”
“I didn't approve them.”
“You had access to the system.”
“Not after my credentials were transferred.”
He went quiet.
Then he said, “Claire, I need you to listen carefully. If this investigation becomes public, it could destroy the company.”
“Then you should have thought about that before allowing someone to use my name.”
“I'm trying to protect you.”
I closed my eyes.
“Stop saying that.”
“You don't understand what's at stake.”
“Then tell me.”
He hesitated.
Finally, he said, “Sienna didn't act alone.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Who helped her?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
“I suspect someone on the finance team.”
“Julian, how much did you know?”
His voice became defensive.
“Enough to understand that there were transactions I hadn't personally approved.”
I sat down.
“So you knew money was disappearing.”
“I knew there were accounting discrepancies.”
“And you did nothing?”
“I was handling the acquisition.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course you were.”
Then his voice softened.
“Claire, I made a mistake with your position. I can fix that. We can go back to how things were.”
I stared at the hotel window.
“How things were?”
“Yes.”
“Hidden?”
He didn't answer.
“Underpaid?”
Silence.
“Expected to protect you while you publicly stood beside another woman?”
“That's not what happened.”
“Then what happened, Julian?”
He finally spoke.
“Sienna told me you were planning to leave.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“She said you had been interviewing with competitors. She told me you were preparing to take several major clients with you.”
I almost laughed.
“I wasn't interviewing.”
“I know that now.”
“Why didn't you ask me?”
He said nothing.
Because he hadn't trusted me enough to ask.
But he had trusted Sienna enough to demote me.
Before I could say anything else, another call appeared on my screen.
Rebecca.
I switched lines.
“What's wrong?”
“Claire, I need you to look at something.”
“What?”
“Your old company registration.”
I sat upright.
“What about it?”
“Someone filed a change of ownership yesterday.”
My blood went cold.
“That isn't possible.”
“I checked the filing. Someone has submitted paperwork claiming that Northstar's parent company was transferred to Caldwell Creative.”
I stared at the wall.
“Who signed it?”
Rebecca took a breath.
“According to the filing, you did.”
I couldn't speak.
May you like
Then she said the words that made everything worse.
“The document includes a notarized signature from your wedding day.”
