Chapter 6 - The Call That Stopped $3.2 Billion
At 8:03 a.m., Gavin received the call.
By 8:05, he was shouting.
By 8:11, half the executive floor could hear him.
“Suspended?”
The Crestview representative remained calm.
“Pending further review.”
“For how long?”
“We cannot provide a timeline.”
Gavin slammed his hand onto the desk.
“We met every requirement!”
“That is part of what is being reviewed.”
The call ended.
Gavin immediately turned toward Mason.
“What did you do?”
Mason's face hardened.
“Me?”
“They're questioning your transfers!”
“Our transfers.”
Gavin froze.
Mason stepped closer.
“Don't suddenly pretend you weren't signing documents.”
Charlotte stood near the door.
Neither man noticed her slowly backing away.
Gavin pointed at Mason.
“You told me everything was compliant.”
“And you wanted the valuation.”
Gavin's face changed.
Charlotte slipped out.
For the first time, Gavin understood that the empire he had built might collapse not because Sabrina was vindictive, but because he had stopped asking questions whenever the answers benefited him.
Then his phone rang.
His mother.
Then a lender.
Then a board member.
Then three journalists.
Somebody knew the Crestview deal had stalled.
By noon, rumors were spreading.
At 1:20 p.m., Gavin drove to Sabrina’s temporary apartment.
She refused to let him inside.
They spoke in the building lobby with security nearby.
“You did this,” he said.
Sabrina looked at him.
“No.”
“Don't lie.”
“I gave Crestview information. Crestview made its own decision.”
“How do you even know them?”
Sabrina said nothing.
Gavin stared.
Then something clicked.
“Miller.”
She waited.
“David Miller.”
Silence.
His face went pale.
“Crestview's David Miller?”
“My father.”
Gavin stepped backward.
It was as though six years of memories were rearranging themselves in his mind.
Her father, whom he had met only twice.
The quiet older man Gavin had dismissed as a retired consultant.
The family Sabrina rarely discussed.
“You knew?”
Sabrina almost laughed.
“Of course I knew who my father was.”
“No. About the investment.”
“I learned Crestview was considering SwiftFreight months ago.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“You never asked.”
Gavin stared at her.
Then anger returned.
“You sabotaged me.”
“No, Gavin. If your company told the truth, an investigation should not frighten you.”
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Sabrina stepped closer.
“You hit me because another woman lied about a car.”
Gavin looked away.
“You threatened to leave me homeless.”
“Sabrina—”
“You hid assets.”
“That wasn't—”
“You told me I had nothing.”
Her voice never rose.
“That was the part you enjoyed most.”
Gavin finally looked at her.
For the first time, he seemed ashamed.
“I made a mistake.”
“No.”
Sabrina shook her head.
“A mistake is forgetting an anniversary. What you did was a series of decisions.”
She walked toward the elevator.
Gavin called after her.
“Can we fix this?”
The elevator doors opened.
Sabrina looked back.
“The marriage?”
He said nothing.
“The investment?”
Still nothing.
Sabrina understood.
Even now, he did not know which one he was asking about.
The doors closed.
That evening, Gavin returned to SwiftFreight.
His office was dark.
Mason was gone.
So were several boxes of financial records.
May you like
And when Gavin checked his phone, he discovered something worse.
Mason had booked an international flight.
