The message stayed on my phone for less than a minute before I deleted it.
I didn't block the number.
I wanted whoever had sent it to believe I had seen it.
Miriam watched me place the phone facedown on the table.
“You're not even going to ask who it is?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if they wanted me to know, they'd have used their name.”
She nodded.
“That means they expect you to react.”
“Exactly.”
Outside the hotel window, morning had finally begun to push through the gray clouds. The city was waking slowly, one building at a time, while somewhere across the country Daniel was waking up to the consequences of the life he had celebrated only hours earlier.
Miriam opened her laptop.
“The emergency board meeting is confirmed for eleven.”
“Good.”
“I've also asked our forensic team to review every transaction involving Pierce Dynamics during the last thirty-six months.”
“Not just the transfers to Vanessa.”
“No. Everything.”
I looked at her.
“Start with the money that left after I told Daniel I wanted nothing from him.”
Miriam paused.
“That was when?”
“Three months before the divorce filing.”
She typed a note.
“You think something happened then?”
“I think Daniel became convinced I was financially vulnerable around that time.”
“Why?”
“Because that's when he stopped trying to negotiate.”
Miriam looked up.
“He became generous.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel had surprised me during the settlement negotiations.
At first, he had demanded nearly everything.
Then, almost overnight, his position changed.
He stopped arguing about certain properties.
He accepted the division of several accounts without asking questions.
He even told his attorney that he wanted the divorce completed quickly.
At the time, I had assumed Vanessa was pushing him to move on.
Now I wondered whether someone had already convinced him that the less he questioned my finances, the safer he would be.
At eleven, the boardroom filled.
There were seven people around the table.
None of them worked for Daniel.
All of them worked for me.
The chief executive of Vale Meridian sat at the head of the table. Beside him were the heads of legal, finance, risk, acquisitions, and compliance.
I took the final chair.
No one asked about the divorce.
That was one of the reasons I trusted them.
Our chief financial officer, Helena Ward, opened the meeting.
“We traced the ownership chain on the account connected to Claire Whitmore.”
A screen appeared.
The company Evelyn Mercer had established was at the center.
Helena continued.
“It received funds from two sources.”
“Pierce Dynamics and?”
“A private account belonging to an individual.”
“Who?”
She displayed the name.
I recognized it immediately.
Daniel's father.
I stared at the screen.
“That's impossible.”
Helena shook her head.
“The account is active.”
“His father died six years ago.”
“Yes.”
Silence settled over the room.
Miriam leaned forward.
“Then someone has been operating an account under his identity.”
Helena nodded.
“Correct.”
I looked at the transaction dates.
The payments had started almost three years ago.
That meant the scheme had existed before Vanessa became publicly involved with Daniel.
“Who had access to his father's financial records?”
Miriam asked.
Helena changed the screen.
“Daniel's former family accountant.”
I felt something cold move through me.
“Name?”
“Richard Sloan.”
I remembered him.
He had attended Daniel's father's funeral.
He had also advised Daniel for years.
“Where is he now?”
“Retired.”
“Where?”
“Arizona.”
Miriam looked at me.
“I'll find him.”
“Don't contact him yet.”
She stopped.
“Why?”
“If someone is still coordinating this, they'll know immediately.”
The risk officer spoke for the first time.
“There is another issue.”
He displayed another set of transfers.
“These amounts went from Pierce Dynamics into an account connected to Evelyn Mercer.”
“Directly?”
“No.”
“Through an intermediary.”
“Which one?”
He displayed another company.
I recognized the name.
It was a consulting firm Daniel had used during one of his biggest expansions.
The same firm had handled several of his personal financial arrangements.
Miriam stared at the screen.
“Who owns it?”
Helena answered.
“An offshore trust.”
“Beneficiary?”
“Currently unknown.”
I leaned back.
The room was silent.
There were too many layers.
Too many people.
Too much planning.
This was no longer about a jealous mistress trying to get a husband.
Someone had been moving money and manipulating Daniel long before the wedding.
Vanessa might be involved.
But she might not be the person at the center.
“Freeze nothing,” I said.
Helena looked at me.
“Nothing?”
“Not yet.”
“If we leave the accounts open—”
“They'll keep using them.”
She understood.
“You want them to continue.”
“I want them to show us where they lead.”
The meeting ended forty minutes later.
Miriam followed me into the hallway.
“You're setting a trap.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“You're setting bait.”
I smiled.
“There's a difference.”
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I let it ring.
He called again.
Then again.
On the fourth attempt, I answered.
“Hello.”
His breathing was uneven.
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Don't play games with me.”
“I haven't spoken to you in weeks.”
“You knew.”
“Knew what?”
“About the companies.”
I leaned against the hallway wall.
“Yes.”
“You knew before the divorce.”
“Yes.”
“You deliberately hid them.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you never asked.”
There was silence.
“You made me look like an idiot.”
I almost laughed.
“No, Daniel.”
“What?”
“You did that yourself.”
He breathed heavily.
“Vanessa told me you were hiding money.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“She said you had accounts I didn't know about.”
“She was right.”
“But she said you were taking money from the company.”
“I wasn't.”
“She showed me documents.”
“What documents?”
“I don't know.”
“Then you should ask her.”
He went quiet.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“I need you to come back.”
“No.”
“Please.”
The word sounded strange coming from him.
Daniel had never said please to me unless he wanted something.
“Why?”
“Because things are getting out of control.”
“They already were.”
“I can fix this.”
“You couldn't fix us.”
His voice broke slightly.
“I'm sorry.”
I closed my eyes.
For a moment, I remembered the man who had once slept beside me in that tiny apartment.
Then I remembered the courthouse.
“I believe you regret it,” I said.
“Then come back.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because regret isn't the same thing as accountability.”
He said nothing.
I ended the call.
Miriam was waiting.
“He apologized?”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I believe he's afraid.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“It was my answer.”
That afternoon, a second report arrived.
The forensic team had found something.
A payment from the mysterious intermediary company had been made to Vanessa six months before she met Daniel.
I read the amount.
Then the date.
It wasn't random.
The payment coincided with her departure from another company.
The same company had employed Evelyn Mercer.
I looked at Miriam.
“Vanessa and Evelyn knew each other.”
“Apparently.”
“And they both worked for the same firm.”
“Yes.”
“Find out why.”
By evening, the answer arrived.
Evelyn had been investigating missing funds.
Vanessa had been the employee who processed several of the disputed invoices.
Neither woman had been formally charged.
Instead, Evelyn was fired.
Vanessa was promoted.
I read that twice.
“That's not an accident.”
“No,” Miriam said.
The next morning, I received another message.
This one came from a number I recognized.
Gregory.
He wrote only:
I found the original file.
Then he sent a photograph.
It showed an old internal report.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Do not let Claire see this.
My heart stopped for one beat.
Someone had been hiding information from me.
But the handwriting wasn't Daniel's.
It belonged to Vanessa.
Click here to continue reading: PART 6: Vanessa’s Handwriting Appeared on a Buried Report, and the Last Person I Expected to Defend Me Asked for a Private Meeting
The Divorce Decree He Celebrated Was Not the Victory He Believed He Had Won
Part 5 of 12
