Chapter 10 - WHEN THE MISTRESS TURNED
Vanessa answered her brother’s call on speaker.
His voice shook.
“They have a warrant.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing.”
“Did they take the computers?”
“They’re taking everything.”
Julian stepped toward her.
“End the call.”
Her brother heard him.
“Is Hart there?”
Julian reached for the phone.
Vanessa pulled it away.
“Do not touch me.”
Her brother began shouting.
“You said Hart’s company approved those transfers.”
Vanessa ended the call.
The room fell silent again.
She looked at Julian as though seeing him clearly for the first time.
“You said no one could trace the money.”
Julian’s voice remained low.
“Do not speak without counsel.”
“You told me your lawyers controlled the structure.”
“They did until you started confessing.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You’re going to blame me.”
“You created the false companies.”
“Because you ordered me to.”
“I never ordered criminal activity.”
She laughed once.
It was an empty, frightened sound.
“You wrote everything in coded messages.”
“What messages?”
“The voice notes.”
Julian froze.
Marcus looked up.
“What voice notes?”
Vanessa gripped her phone.
“I recorded our conversations.”
Julian moved toward her.
A security officer stepped between them.
Vanessa looked at Celia.
“What happens if I cooperate?”
Celia answered carefully.
“That is a question for your own attorney and the investigators.”
“I can give them everything.”
Julian shook his head.
“She is lying to save herself.”
Vanessa unlocked her phone.
“There are forty-three recordings.”
She played the most recent one.
Julian’s voice filled the room.
By Monday, the land will be under our control.
Elena will either sign voluntarily or Martin will convince the court that she cannot manage her own affairs.
Once the trust is neutralized, we close the sale and move the money.
Vanessa’s recorded voice asked what would happen if I fought back.
Julian answered without hesitation.
She won’t have anyone left willing to believe her.
The recording ended.
My father’s hand closed around the back of a chair.
For the first time that night, his composure cracked.
He walked toward Julian.
I stepped between them.
“Dad.”
Gabriel stopped.
His eyes never left Julian’s face.
“You sat at my table.”
Julian said nothing.
“You called me family.”
Still nothing.
“And all the while, you were planning to have my daughter declared incompetent.”
Julian looked at me.
“I was desperate.”
“You were greedy,” my father said.
Vanessa transferred the recordings to investigators.
In exchange for her cooperation, she asked to be protected from Julian and Martin.
Julian watched the upload reach one hundred percent.
Then he turned toward the nearest exit.
The security officer blocked him.
“I need air.”
“You must remain on the property.”
“I am not under arrest.”
“Not yet.”
Those two words drained the last of his confidence.
At 2:10 a.m., the board reconvened.
The directors voted unanimously to terminate Julian for cause.
His shares remained his property, but the bylaws stripped them of voting rights while the fraud investigation remained active.
The man who had entered the gala as chief executive officer left the boardroom without a title, an office, or a working keycard.
He returned to the lobby.
Every guest had gone.
The musicians were packing their instruments.
Workers were removing the banner bearing his photograph.
Julian stood beneath the chandelier and watched his face come down.
Then Naomi approached him with a small suitcase.
“Your personal belongings have been collected.”
Julian looked toward the front doors.
Rain still covered the driveway.
May you like
Only hours earlier, he had made me stand outside in it.
Now the doors opened for him.
