Chương 3 - The Woman Who Knew Too MuchNatalie Ford insisted we meet somewhere public.
Not at my house.
Not at Mercer Strategy Group.
Not at Rachel’s office.
She chose a crowded café near the courthouse where lawyers, clerks and police officers came and went all morning.
When I arrived, she was sitting in the back corner with both hands wrapped around a paper cup.
She looked about thirty.
Blonde hair tied into a low ponytail.
No makeup.
Dark circles under her eyes.
She stood when she saw me.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
“Vivian.”
She nodded nervously.
“Thank you for coming.”
“You sounded like it was important.”
“It is.”
Rachel sat beside me.
I had insisted she come.
Natalie glanced at her.
“This is my attorney.”
Natalie nodded again.
“Good.”
She reached into a tote bag and pulled out a small external hard drive.
Rachel immediately raised a hand.
“Before you give us anything, I need to ask how you obtained it.”
Natalie froze.
“I copied files from my work computer before Julian fired me.”
“Were you authorized to access those files?”
“I was finance operations manager.”
Rachel relaxed slightly.
“Continue.”
Natalie slid the drive onto the table.
“Julian fired me because I questioned vendor payments.”
“What payments?”
“The same ones you’re probably looking at now.”
“Blue Haven?”
Her eyes widened.
“You know about Blue Haven?”
“And North Crest.”
Natalie nodded.
“There are four companies total.”
She took a notebook from her bag.
Blue Haven Advisory.
North Crest Procurement.
Vale Management Services.
Horizon Strategic Partners.
I recognized three from the forensic report.
“What are they?” I asked.
“Shell companies.”
“Owned by Julian?”
“Not directly.”
“Then who?”
Natalie looked at me.
“His parents.”
Rachel and I exchanged a glance.
Natalie continued.
“Not all of them. Patricia owns Blue Haven through another entity. Richard is connected to North Crest. Horizon is tied to a trust.”
“What trust?”
“I never found out.”
“And Vale?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Vale is different.”
“How?”
“It’s connected to Elena.”
My stomach dropped.
“Elena Shaw?”
“Yes.”
“She was receiving company money?”
“Not under her own name.”
“How much?”
“About six hundred thousand dollars over fourteen months.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“For what services?”
“That’s the point.”
Natalie shook her head.
“There were no services.”
She explained how it worked.
Julian created inflated consulting expenses.
Fake research retainers.
Vendor reimbursements.
Strategic sourcing payments.
The money moved out of Mercer Strategy and into the four entities.
From there, some was transferred again.
Some apparently went toward private travel.
Luxury purchases.
Property deposits.
Credit cards.
A car.
And, according to Natalie, a condominium Julian had purchased under an entity name the previous year.
“Where?”
“Riverfront Towers.”
I knew the building.
Luxury condominiums overlooking downtown.
“Who lives there?”
Natalie’s answer was immediate.
“Elena.”
I stared at the table.
For six months, I had known about the affair.
I thought I had accepted the worst of it.
Apparently, betrayal also had accounting layers.
“He bought her a condo?”
Natalie nodded.
“With company funds?”
“Indirectly.”
Rachel spoke.
“Do you have documents?”
Natalie touched the hard drive.
“Everything.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
Natalie’s expression changed.
“I tried.”
“To whom?”
“Aaron.”
My head lifted.
“Aaron Blake?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Ten months ago.”
“What did he do?”
“He told me he’d look into it.”
“And?”
“Three days later, Julian called me into his office.”
She looked down.
“He accused me of stealing confidential data. He said if I ever contacted anyone about company finances again, he’d sue me into bankruptcy.”
“Did Aaron know you were fired?”
“Yes.”
“Did he contact you?”
“No.”
The anger I had pushed aside came roaring back.
Aaron hadn’t merely known about Elena.
He may have known about the money too.
Rachel asked Natalie several more questions.
Dates.
Account names.
Document locations.
Who had authorized access.
Natalie answered carefully.
Then she opened her phone.
“There’s something else.”
She showed me a text message.
The sender was Julian.
Eight months earlier.
You are making a serious mistake. Think about your future before you start inventing accusations.
Another followed.
No firm in this city will hire someone branded as untrustworthy.
Natalie swallowed.
“I lost two job offers after that.”
“You think he interfered?”
“One recruiter finally told me someone from Mercer Strategy called them.”
Rachel photographed the messages.
“We’ll preserve everything.”
Natalie looked at me.
“I’m not doing this for money.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“I’m doing it because he made me feel crazy.”
Her eyes filled.
“I knew what I saw. I knew the invoices were fake. But when everyone around you acts like you’re the problem long enough, you start wondering whether maybe you are.”
I understood that sentence more than she knew.
After the meeting, Rachel and I drove directly back to her office.
For six hours, her forensic team began cataloging Natalie’s files.
At 4:17 p.m., they found the Riverfront Towers purchase.
Unit 2804.
Purchase price: $1.18 million.
Buyer: Vale Residential Holdings.
Down payment: $410,000.
Funding source?
Three transfers originating from Mercer Strategy vendors.
Elena hadn’t merely been sleeping with my husband.
She had been living inside money taken from a company Julian was allowing to collapse under debt.
By 5:00, Rachel had enough to seek emergency court relief preserving the remaining company assets.
At 5:23, Julian called me.
I let it ring.
He called again.
Then again.
Finally, a text arrived.
We need to talk privately. No lawyers.
I ignored it.
Another.
You don’t understand what you’re doing.
Then:
Aaron is involved too.
I stared at those words.
Ten seconds later, Aaron called.
“Vivian.”
“What?”
“Julian just contacted me.”
“What did he say?”
“That you’re trying to frame him.”
“Are you involved?”
Silence.
“Aaron?”
“It’s complicated.”
“No. Complicated is choosing a restaurant. Were you involved?”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
More silence.
Then:
“I signed documents.”
My heart sank.
“What documents?”
“I didn’t know what they were at first.”
“How many?”
“A lot.”
“Why?”
“Julian said they were vendor agreements.”
“And later?”
Aaron sounded sick.
“Later I realized some weren’t.”
I closed my eyes.
“How much did you know?”
“Not everything.”
“How much?”
Before he could answer, someone started pounding on my front door.
Hard.
Repeatedly.
Rachel heard it through the phone.
“Vivian, are you home?”
“Yes.”
“Do not open it.”
I walked toward the security monitor.
A man stood outside.
Tall.
Gray suit.
I didn’t recognize him.
He held a large envelope.
He looked directly at the camera.
Then he raised a document against the glass.
I zoomed in.
It was a court filing.
Julian had moved fast.
He was accusing me of fraudulently acquiring the debt, illegally seizing his company and intentionally destroying his livelihood during a marital dispute.
But it was the final page that made my pulse jump.
He was asking a judge for an emergency order giving him temporary control of Mercer Strategy again.
May you like
And attached as a supporting witness was the last person I expected.
Aaron Blake.
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