Chapter 5 - The Missing $780,000
The money wasn't missing.
That was the strange part.
Marcus spent twelve hours tracing every account connected to Meridian Holdings.
Nothing.
No unauthorized $780,000 transfer.
Then he found an attempted one.
Eleven months earlier.
The request had been rejected because it required my biometric authorization.
The destination was a shell company.
Westlake Strategic Consulting.
Registered agent:
Gerald Pike.
The document consultant.
Trevor hadn't just wanted a fake divorce.
He had tried to move money.
And my father had funded the man who allegedly helped him.
I drove to my parents' house that evening.
Dad opened the door.
"Claire."
"We're talking."
Mom appeared behind him.
"Please don't fight."
I walked inside.
"You paid Gerald Pike twenty-five thousand dollars."
Dad's face changed.
"Who told you?"
"Records."
"It wasn't what you think."
"Then explain."
Trevor had approached Dad claiming our marriage was ending.
He said I was hiding assets.
He said I would destroy him financially.
Dad believed him.
Or wanted to.
"Why didn't you ask me?"
"You never tell us anything."
"Because whenever I do, you tell Hailey."
Mom flinched.
Dad folded his arms.
"I was trying to help."
"You helped my husband create paperwork saying I divorced him."
"I didn't know that!"
For the first time, his certainty cracked.
"What did you think Gerald was doing?"
"Preparing financial disclosures."
"And twenty-five thousand dollars seemed normal?"
Silence.
Then Mom began crying.
"Your father was protecting Hailey."
I turned slowly.
"Hailey?"
Dad closed his eyes.
Too late.
"What does Hailey have to do with paperwork from eleven months ago?"
Mom realized what she'd revealed.
And that was when I understood.
The affair hadn't begun eight months ago.
That was simply the date Hailey admitted.
"How long?" I asked.
Nobody answered.
"How long has Hailey been involved with Trevor?"
Dad sat down.
Mom covered her mouth.
And my childhood returned in one brutal flash.
Every time they'd asked me to sacrifice for her.
Every time they'd protected her.
Every time they'd decided I could handle the pain because I was "strong."
"How long?"
Mom whispered:
"Almost a year."
The room became silent.
Almost a year.
The paperwork.
The payment.
The attempted transfer.
The affair.
All the same timeline.
I walked toward the door.
Mom followed.
"Claire!"
I turned.
She was crying.
"She's your sister."
I stared at her.
"No, Mom. She's your excuse."
Then I left.
But before I reached my car, Dad called after me.
"Claire!"
I stopped.
He stood on the porch holding an envelope.
"I should've given you this months ago."
I looked at it.
"What is it?"
"Something Trevor left with me."
"When?"
"Last December."
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a copy of a handwritten agreement.
At the bottom was Trevor's signature.
Beside it was Gerald Pike's.
And in one paragraph, Trevor had written exactly what he intended to do after the false divorce became official.
Sell the Palisades estate.
Take control of Bennett Meridian.
May you like
Move overseas.
And marry Hailey.
