Chapter 7 - THE EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS
The transfer had not cleared.
Serena's emergency freeze caught it with eleven minutes to spare.
Julian enlarged the authorization record.
"Your signature certificate was used at 7:42 p.m."
At 7:42, I had been downstairs greeting guests.
Adrian had been missing for nearly twenty minutes.
So had Vanessa.
I looked at him.
"Eight million dollars?"
He stopped pretending confusion.
"It was a strategic investment."
Vanessa stared at him.
"You told me it was approved."
Every head turned toward her.
Adrian closed his eyes.
Vanessa realized what she had said.
Too late.
Marcus stepped forward.
"Approved by whom?"
"I don't know. Adrian handled it."
"Into a company carrying your name?"
"It isn't mine."
Daniel was already searching public records.
"Hart Meridian Partners was formed twelve days ago. Registered agent is a lawyer who also represents Vanessa Hart. Beneficial-owner filing lists a family trust connected to her mother."
Vanessa sank into a chair.
Adrian shouted, "This is privileged business information!"
Marcus smiled without humor.
"No, this is evidence voluntarily displayed by an owner of the company to her own counsel and accountant while police investigate an assault."
Adrian finally understood something important.
My brothers had not come to beat him.
They had come to make sure nothing disappeared while law enforcement did its job.
The police collected phones under consent or warrant procedures as appropriate.
Company servers were preserved by outside counsel.
Daniel locked down administrator access.
Julian began tracing money.
Ethan kept trying to take me to the hospital.
And Gabriel stood beside the front door, saying almost nothing.
That silence scared Adrian more than shouting would have.
Then Julian found another transaction.
Four hundred eighty-six thousand dollars over eighteen months.
Payments to consulting vendors.
May you like
All of them connected to Barbara Cole.
My mother-in-law stopped calling the night "discipline."
