Chapter 5 - The Mistress Changes Sides
Charlotte arrived wearing sunglasses despite the cloudy morning.
Claire sat beside Sabrina.
Two security professionals occupied another table.
Charlotte noticed all of them.
“You came prepared.”
Sabrina answered calmly.
“I learned from experience.”
Charlotte removed her sunglasses.
She looked exhausted.
Nothing remained of the smug woman who had held Sabrina’s wine.
“I lied about the car.”
Sabrina showed no surprise.
“Why?”
“Mason told me to.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Start from the beginning.”
Charlotte hesitated.
Then the story emerged.
Mason had discovered months earlier that Sabrina’s maiden name was Miller.
He had quietly investigated her family.
Eventually, he connected David Miller to Crestview.
Mason panicked.
If Sabrina ever learned about the questionable financial reporting and told her father, the investment could collapse.
So Mason needed Sabrina separated from Gavin before closing.
Charlotte had already been having an affair with Gavin.
Mason used it.
He encouraged Charlotte to pressure Gavin.
He fed Gavin suspicions about Sabrina.
He created conflict.
Finally came the scratched-car accusation.
“You knew he would hurt me?” Sabrina asked.
Charlotte’s face drained.
“No.”
“But you watched.”
Charlotte looked down.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid.”
Sabrina's voice remained quiet.
“So was I.”
Charlotte began crying.
Sabrina did not comfort her.
Some consequences needed to be felt.
Charlotte placed the flash drive on the table.
“Mason told me to delete these.”
Claire took it.
“What are they?”
“Emails. Financial reports. Messages.”
“Why keep them?”
“Insurance.”
Sabrina stared at her.
“You were willing to destroy my marriage for Gavin, but you didn't trust him enough to delete your insurance?”
Charlotte had no answer.
Claire examined the drive.
“If this contains what you say it does, don't discuss it with anyone else.”
Charlotte nodded.
Sabrina stood.
“Why come to me?”
Charlotte whispered, “Because Mason called me last night.”
“And?”
“He said if the Crestview deal fails, he's going to make it look like the accounting changes were my idea.”
Sabrina almost pitied her.
Almost.
As Sabrina turned away, Charlotte said, “I'm sorry.”
Sabrina stopped.
“I believe you're sorry now.”
Charlotte looked hopeful.
Sabrina continued.
“But being sorry after the consequences reach you isn't the same as being sorry when only someone else is suffering.”
Then she left.
That afternoon, Crestview’s forensic team opened the files.
Within hours, they found enough discrepancies to expand the investigation.
By evening, David called Sabrina.
“You need to come upstairs.”
“What happened?”
“We found something.”
At Crestview Tower, a forensic accountant projected a transaction map onto the wall.
Dozens of companies.
Transfers.
Loans.
Related entities.
At the center was one name.
Mason Reed.
But another signature appeared repeatedly.
Gavin Pierce.
Sabrina stared at it.
“Did Gavin know?”
The accountant answered carefully.
“We can't determine intent from signatures alone.”
Sabrina appreciated the precision.
She did not want assumptions.
She wanted truth.
Then the accountant changed screens.
“This is the more immediate problem.”
A document appeared.
It concerned a SwiftFreight subsidiary.
The numbers submitted to Crestview did not match the underlying records.
The difference was enormous.
David looked at Sabrina.
“If this is authentic, the deal cannot close as currently structured.”
May you like
Sabrina whispered, “How bad?”
“Bad enough that tomorrow morning, Gavin is going to learn that his $3.2 billion isn't coming.”
