Chapter 8 - BARBARA'S COMPANY

Barbara denied everything.

"I don't know anything about company accounts."

Julian turned the tablet toward her.

"Do you know BJC Lifestyle Consulting?"

Her face answered before her mouth did.

"That's a small family business."

"Your business."

"Yes."

"It invoiced Bennett-Cole for branding advice, executive hospitality, and client-relations strategy."

Barbara folded her arms.

"I did work."

"Can you show us any?"

Silence.

The payments had started two months after Adrian persuaded the board to let him approve vendors under $50,000 without a second signature.

Each invoice stayed just below the threshold.

Forty-eight thousand.

Forty-nine thousand.

Forty-six-five.

Again and again.

I stared at Adrian.

"You paid your mother almost half a million dollars from our company?"

"My company."

"There it is again."

He looked toward police, suddenly careful.

"This is a corporate dispute."

Marcus answered, "The assault is not. The locked doors are not. The forged signature may not be. We can sort categories later."

Richard Cole lowered himself into a chair.

"Barbara... did you know?"

She snapped, "Don't start."

His face changed.

For thirty-eight years, Richard had apparently been told not to start.

Tonight he finally did.

"Did you know Adrian was moving money?"

"He was protecting his future."

"From his wife?"

Barbara looked at me with open hatred.

"She was going to leave him."

The room went still.

I had told no one except Serena and Marcus that I was considering divorce.

Even my brothers did not know the timing.

I stood despite Ethan's protest.

"How did you know that?"

Barbara's expression faltered.

Daniel looked at Adrian's confiscated laptop, then at me.

"Because they were monitoring your attorney communications."

My stomach dropped.

"What?"

He showed me a screenshot preserved from Adrian's synced account.

A folder labeled E PLAN.

Inside were copies of emails between Serena and me.

Private divorce planning.

Trust documents.

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