Chapter 2 - The Woman Outside
I walked out of the ballroom under my own power. That mattered to me more than I expected.
The young security guard kept an umbrella over my head as we crossed the hotel's covered driveway. He avoided my eyes until I stopped beside a black town car.
“What's your name?” I asked.
“Mateo.”
“You didn't do anything wrong, Mateo. You were following an order.”
He swallowed. “I heard what he said to you. I'm sorry.”
It was the first kindness I'd received in the last twenty minutes.
My closest friend, June Park, opened the car door. She had left her own dinner when I called. She took one look at my soaked gown, then at my face.
“Do I need to go back in there?”
“No. I need you to drive.”
At the curb, a reporter shouted Everett's name. Camera flashes washed over the hotel's entrance. By morning, clips of my humiliation would be everywhere. I couldn't stop that, but I could stop Everett from taking down a thousand employees with him.
June handed me a clean coat. “Tell me what happened.”
I told her about the wine, the ultrasound, the ring. When I repeated what Everett had called me, June gripped the wheel so hard her knuckles changed color.
“He has no idea,” she said.
“No.”
Six years ago, Wardbridge Technologies had been forty-eight hours from missing payroll. Banks wouldn't extend another dollar. Everett believed an anonymous investment group called Harborline Capital had rescued him because he was brilliant.
Harborline was a holding company managed by professionals. I owned it through a trust created with the proceeds from selling my first business. Over six financing rounds, it acquired fifty-seven percent of Wardbridge's voting shares. I had paid for the building, the expansion, the research team, and several of Everett's second chances.
I had never told him. I thought I was protecting his pride.
Now Ruth was calling again.
“The fourteen million went to a new vendor,” she said. “Meridian Creative Advisory. We have a written notice from the controller. She says Everett ordered the transfer tonight.”
“Freeze what can legally be frozen. Preserve every record. Don't touch employee payroll.”
“Grace, there's something else. The vendor's registration lists a director named Daniel Price.”
“Who is that?”
“Vanessa's brother.”
May you like
I closed my eyes.
Outside, the rain began to fall harder. Inside the car, Ruth added, “And Everett signed the transfer approval with a date from three weeks ago.”
