Chapter 3 - The Account That Shouldn't Exist
Blake saw Vanessa's fear.
It lasted less than a second.
But Evelyn saw it too.
Daniel handed Evelyn the folder.
“Not here,” he said quietly.
Evelyn nodded.
Blake stepped closer.
“What auditors?”
“Fairchild's.”
“Why are your auditors looking at my company?”
Evelyn's eyes hardened.
“Because it's my capital at risk.”
Vanessa interrupted.
“This is ridiculous.”
Everyone turned toward her.
She forced a smile.
“Blake's company has independent auditors.”
“Yes,” Evelyn said. “It does.”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“So?”
“So someone has been hiding transactions from them.”
Blake's face changed.
“What transactions?”
Evelyn looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“Why are you looking at me?”
Evelyn said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Vanessa turned to Blake.
“You can't seriously think—”
“I don't know what I think.”
“You told me she was nobody!”
The words escaped before Vanessa could stop them.
Sophie looked up.
Evelyn immediately crouched beside her daughter.
“Sweetheart, would you go with Mr. Mercer for a minute?”
Daniel offered Sophie his hand.
“There's chocolate cake backstage.”
Sophie's eyes brightened.
“Really?”
“The dangerous amount.”
She smiled and went with him.
Only after Sophie disappeared did Evelyn stand.
“Now,” she said, “we can speak like adults.”
Blake's face reddened.
“Don't humiliate me.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You brought your mistress to an event hosted by your wife.”
Nearby guests pretended not to listen.
“You managed the humiliation without my assistance.”
Blake looked around.
“Private room. Now.”
Evelyn agreed.
Five minutes later, Blake, Evelyn, Vanessa, Daniel, and Fairchild's forensic accountant, Rachel Kim, sat inside a private conference suite overlooking Biscayne Bay.
Rachel opened a laptop.
“Six months ago,” she began, “we identified irregular payments from Winslow Development to a consulting company called VRC Strategic.”
Blake frowned.
“I know VRC.”
Vanessa went very still.
“They handle overseas investor relations.”
Rachel turned the screen.
“According to invoices.”
“What does that mean?”
“VRC has no employees.”
Blake looked at Vanessa.
She immediately shook her head.
“I didn't choose them.”
Rachel continued.
“The registered owner is a Delaware holding company. That company is controlled by another entity in Nevada.”
Blake leaned forward.
“And?”
Rachel clicked.
“The beneficial owner is Vanessa Rose Cole.”
Silence.
Blake stared at the screen.
Then at Vanessa.
“No.”
Vanessa stood.
“This is insane.”
Rachel remained calm.
“Over fourteen months, Winslow Development transferred $3.8 million to VRC.”
Blake's mouth opened.
Vanessa grabbed her purse.
“I don't have to sit here and be accused—”
Daniel closed the door.
“No one is detaining you, Ms. Cole. You're free to leave.”
She stopped.
“But if you do, understand that our outside counsel will preserve every company account and device associated with these transactions.”
Vanessa looked at Blake.
“Say something.”
Blake was staring at her.
“Did you steal from me?”
“No.”
“Did you own VRC?”
Vanessa hesitated.
That hesitation destroyed her.
Blake stood.
“You told me those consultants were recommended by—”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain!”
Evelyn watched quietly.
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
“It wasn't supposed to happen like this.”
Blake laughed without humor.
“What wasn't?”
“I was protecting us.”
“Us?”
Vanessa looked at Evelyn and realized her mistake.
Blake did too.
“You and me?”
Vanessa whispered, “You said you were leaving her.”
Evelyn felt something inside her finally become still.
There it was.
Not suspicion.
Not hotel receipts.
Not photographs.
The truth spoken aloud.
Blake turned toward Evelyn.
“Evelyn—”
“Don't.”
One word.
Nothing more.
He stopped.
Vanessa began crying.
“You said after the Fairchild deal closed, we'd start over.”
Evelyn looked at Blake.
“The Fairchild deal?”
Daniel's expression sharpened.
Blake went pale.
Rachel opened another file.
“That's the second issue.”
She displayed a presentation.
PROJECT CROWN
Evelyn read the first page.
Her expression changed.
The proposal described a plan for Winslow Development to acquire several Fairchild-controlled waterfront properties after securing financing from Fairchild itself.
But buried in the structure was something else.
A side company.
A transfer.
A future ownership arrangement.
Blake had planned to use Fairchild's money to buy Fairchild's assets, shift part of the value into a company he secretly controlled, and leave his marriage afterward.
Evelyn looked up.
“Were you planning to divorce me after this closed?”
Blake said nothing.
That was answer enough.
For the first time all night, Evelyn looked wounded.
Not furious.
Wounded.
Blake saw it.
And somehow that was worse.
“I didn't know who you were,” he whispered.
Evelyn's eyes filled, but no tears fell.
“Exactly.”
She closed the folder.
“You didn't know who I was.”
She stood.
“And you decided I wasn't worth respecting anyway.”
She walked to the door.
Blake followed.
“Evelyn, wait.”
She turned.
“You have until nine tomorrow morning.”
“For what?”
“To provide Fairchild's auditors unrestricted access to every Winslow Development account.”
“And if I refuse?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Then by nine-oh-five, our board will exercise every contractual right available to us.”
Blake swallowed.
“You'll destroy me.”
“No.”
Her voice was almost gentle.
“If your company is destroyed by people discovering what happened inside it, that isn't something I did to you.”
Then she left.
Blake remained in the conference room.
Vanessa was still crying.
Rachel closed her laptop.
Daniel followed Evelyn.
Blake stared through the glass wall at his wife walking back into the ballroom.
Hundreds of people greeted her.
Sophie ran toward her.
Evelyn bent down and hugged their daughter.
And Blake finally understood something he should have understood years ago.
The most powerful person in his life had never needed him.
She had chosen him.
And he had treated that choice like weakness.
His phone buzzed.
A message from his CFO.
Blake, call me immediately. We have a problem. Federal compliance officers just requested records.
Blake read it twice.
May you like
Then he slowly turned toward Vanessa.
“What did you do?”
