Chapter 2 - Fifty-Eight PercentFor perhaps five seconds, nobody in the ballroom moved.
Then applause began.
Not the polite applause people offered because a microphone told them to. It started somewhere near the engineering tables, spread toward operations, and rolled through the ballroom until almost everyone was standing.
I stepped behind the microphone.
From the stage, I could see Julian perfectly.
His face had gone white.
Camilla was whispering something to him, but he appeared incapable of hearing her.
Malcolm shook my hand.
“Congratulations, Audrey.”
“Thank you.”
I opened the black folder I had carried all evening.
Julian finally understood what it contained.
Ownership documents.
Voting agreements.
Board resolutions.
Everything he had assumed belonged to some anonymous Boston investment firm actually belonged to me.
“My mother founded Northstar Holdings thirty-one years ago,” I began. “She believed a company was worth saving when the people inside it were worth protecting.”
The room became silent.
“Aurelia has talented engineers, experienced technicians, and eight hundred employees who should never have been asked to pay for mistakes they did not make.”
Several people exchanged glances.
Julian stared at me.
He knew.
This wasn't merely an acquisition speech.
“Northstar’s investment comes with three commitments,” I continued. “No mass layoffs connected to this restructuring. Outstanding retirement contributions will be restored. And every executive expenditure from the previous twenty-four months will undergo independent review.”
Camilla stopped breathing now too.
Interesting.
I glanced toward her.
Her champagne flute trembled.
I continued.
“Effective tomorrow morning, Aurelia will operate under temporary board supervision while that review is completed.”
Julian started walking toward the stage.
Malcolm stepped sideways.
So did hotel security.
Julian stopped.
“Audrey.”
His voice carried farther than he intended.
Every head turned.
I looked at him calmly.
“Yes, Julian?”
“You bought my company?”
“No.”
That seemed to confuse him.
I closed the folder.
“I bought fifty-eight percent of a company you happen to work for.”
Someone near the back choked on a laugh.
Julian's jaw tightened.
Camilla grabbed his sleeve.
“Don't.”
He shook her away.
“You knew about tonight?”
“I signed the final documents at two fourteen this afternoon.”
“You let me stand here talking about becoming president.”
“I never told you that you were becoming president.”
His eyes hardened.
“You humiliated me.”
The absurdity nearly made me smile.
Ten minutes earlier, he had shoved his wife in front of two hundred people and told her another woman belonged beside him.
Now humiliation offended him.
I didn't say that.
I didn't need to.
Instead, I turned toward Malcolm.
“Perhaps we should finish.”
Malcolm returned to the microphone.
“There is one additional board decision.”
Julian froze.
“Pending the independent investigation, Mr. Julian Mercer is placed on administrative leave effective immediately.”
The ballroom erupted in whispers.
Camilla backed away from him.
Julian stared at Malcolm.
“For what?”
General counsel Evelyn Shaw stepped forward.
“For irregularities involving vendor contracts, consulting payments, and procurement approvals.”
“That is ridiculous.”
“You'll receive the documentation tomorrow.”
Julian looked at me.
And for the first time since we had met seven years earlier, I saw uncertainty replace arrogance.
“You did this.”
“No,” I said quietly. “The numbers did.”
Camilla suddenly turned toward the nearest exit.
“Ms. Price.”
Evelyn's voice stopped her.
Camilla looked back.
“We'll need your company laptop and phone before you leave.”
“My phone is personal.”
“The device issued by Aurelia isn't.”
Camilla swallowed.
Julian's gaze snapped toward her.
“Why do they want your phone?”
That was the moment I realized something important.
Julian didn't know everything either.
Whatever they had done, Camilla had secrets of her own.
The party ended quickly after that.
Employees gathered coats while executives disappeared into nervous conversations. Security collected two laptops and Camilla's company phone.
I remained near the stage speaking with Malcolm.
Twenty minutes later, Julian found me in the corridor outside the ballroom.
He was alone.
“Audrey.”
I kept walking.
He caught up.
“Stop.”
I did.
For years, I had stopped when Julian used that voice.
That night I stopped because I wanted to see whether he understood it no longer worked.
He lowered his voice.
“What the hell is Northstar?”
“My company.”
“You told me your mother left you investments.”
“She did.”
“You never said you controlled them.”
“You never asked.”
“We're married.”
“Yes.”
“You hid this from me.”
I stared at him.
“You've spent fourteen months sleeping with another woman.”
His expression shifted.
“That's not—”
“Don't.”
Two letters stopped him.
I had known for four months.
Hotel charges.
Private dinners.
A weekend in Miami disguised as a supplier conference.
Then the earrings.
My mother's earrings.
Julian had taken them from our bedroom and given them to Camilla.
“I can explain.”
“You always can.”
His anger softened abruptly.
That frightened me more than the anger.
“Audrey.”
He stepped closer.
“We've both made mistakes.”
I almost laughed.
“My mistake was confusing patience with loyalty.”
“I love you.”
There it was.
Not when I found the hotel receipts.
Not when I stopped wearing my wedding ring around the house to see if he would notice.
Not when we spent our anniversary eating separately because Camilla had an alleged emergency.
He loved me now.
At precisely the moment I owned the company that employed him.
“I filed for divorce yesterday.”
Julian looked as if I had slapped him.
“You what?”
“You'll be served tomorrow.”
His eyes moved over my face, searching for the woman he thought he knew.
He didn't find her.
“Audrey, don't do something stupid because you're angry.”
“I haven't been angry for weeks.”
“What are you, then?”
“Finished.”
I walked away.
Behind me, Julian said my name once.
I didn't turn around.
Outside, a black sedan waited beneath the hotel canopy.
Malcolm was already inside.
I slid into the rear seat beside him.
He didn't ask about Julian.
Instead he handed me a tablet.
“You need to see this.”
On the screen was a payment ledger recovered that afternoon.
Aurelia had transferred $4.7 million over eighteen months to a consulting company called C.P. Strategic Partners.
I recognized the initials immediately.
Camilla Price.
But another document was attached.
The company's incorporation papers.
Camilla wasn't its owner.
The listed beneficiary was someone named Daniel Vance.
My father's name.
My father had been dead for eleven years.
I looked at Malcolm.
“Where did you get this?”
“The forensic team found it three hours ago.”
“That isn't possible.”
“I know.”
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A single message appeared.
Your husband isn't the person you should be afraid of.
Then another.
Ask Malcolm what happened to your mother.
I slowly raised my eyes.
May you like
Malcolm was watching me.
And suddenly, the man who had been my mother's closest business partner for twenty-five years didn't look reassuring anymore.
Related Stories
