Chapter 6 - Nine O’Clock
Every director was present by nine.
Luca arrived at 8:57.
He looked immaculate.
That was his gift.
No matter what happened privately, Luca could walk into a room looking as though the world still belonged to him.
Then he saw me.
Evelyn sat beside me.
An independent forensic accountant sat on my other side.
Luca stopped.
“What is this?”
The board chair answered.
“A special meeting.”
“For what purpose?”
I slid the audit across the table.
“For this.”
The next ninety minutes stripped away years of illusion.
The auditors did not accuse Luca of crimes. They presented records.
Payments.
Related entities.
Undisclosed conflicts.
Questionable authorizations.
Liquidity exposure.
The forged-looking signature was referred for further examination.
Luca denied wrongdoing.
Some directors believed parts of his explanation.
Others did not.
That distinction mattered.
I refused to turn uncertainty into accusation.
But there was enough verified financial risk for the board to act.
Luca was temporarily removed from unilateral financial authority pending a full review.
He stared at me after the vote.
“You planned this.”
“No.”
“You’ve been waiting to take my company.”
“Our company.”
His laugh was bitter.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The real Jessica.”
I leaned closer.
“The real Jessica is the woman who built half the company you spent years telling people was yours.”
He walked away.
But before leaving, he turned.
“You think you won?”
“No.”
“Good.”
His expression changed.
“Because you still don’t know who financed Northstar.”
Then he left.
The room became silent.
I looked at Evelyn.
“What did he mean?”
She didn’t know.
The forensic accountant did.
He opened another file.
Northstar’s earliest funding had come from an entity none of us expected.
May you like
A company belonging to my late mother’s former business partner.
And that meant the betrayal might have started years before Luca ever met Chloe.
