Chapter 5 - The Deal Before the Vows
I pressed PLAY.
My father and a younger Julian sat in a private conference room. Then the audio began.
"If you hurt her, I will take everything I helped you build."
Julian smiled in the video. "Is that a threat?"
"It's a condition."
"And the loan?"
"Closes Monday."
Julian leaned back. "Then we understand each other."
The clip ended.
I looked at Dad.
"You knew exactly what he was."
"I knew he was ambitious. I didn't know he was violent."
"You knew enough to threaten him before I married him."
Dad's jaw tightened. "I also knew if I told you not to marry him, you would have married him faster."
He wasn't wrong, which made me angrier.
Now I had evidence written across my body.
Detective Lewis closed the laptop. "We have enough for an assault arrest request."
"Where is Julian?"
"Still at the penthouse. His attorney arrived. He has not been arrested yet."
Dad said, "You are not going back there."
"You don't know me as well as you think."
Good.
My phone buzzed. It was Maya Brooks, my college roommate and the only attorney outside my father's network I trusted.
I answered.
"Tell me you're alive," she said.
"I'm alive."
"Good. Stay that way. I found the transfer chain you sent me last month. Julian routed twelve million through three shell vendors. But there's a problem."
"What problem?"
"Your signature is on two of the authorization forms."
My throat tightened.
"That's impossible."
"I know. One is dated the week you were in Denver with me."
"Forgery," Dad said.
Maya continued. "Maybe. But if the board sees these before we prove that, Julian can say you were part of the scheme."
He had built a paper cage around me first.
"Where are the originals?" I asked.
Maya hesitated.
"According to the document index, they're in the fire safe in your penthouse office."
Detective Lewis looked toward the door.
Then her radio crackled.
She listened, frowned, and looked at me.
"Mrs. Vale, your husband just left the building."
"Where is he going?"
May you like
Her answer came immediately.
"Based on his driver's route, straight back to your office safe."
