Chapter 2 - THE NAME ANDREW NEVER ASKED ABOUT
Mariana stood beside the conference room window while Chicago slowly brightened below her.
She had slept for less than two hours.
She had changed into a charcoal suit, tied her dark hair back, and covered the cut on her palm with a clean bandage.
The mark on her cheek was still faintly visible.
Her father noticed it the moment he entered.
Gabriel Escalante was sixty-eight years old and had spent four decades building companies people rarely realized belonged to him.
He did not raise his voice.
He never needed to.
His eyes settled on Mariana’s cheek.
“Did Andrew do that?”
Mariana turned from the window.
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“And the cut?”
“Broken glass.”
“Because of him?”
“Because Brenda threw a crystal decanter during the argument about the necklace.”
Gabriel stood in silence.
Then he placed a folder on the table.
“I can have every attorney we employ inside that mansion before breakfast.”
“They’re already there.”
For the first time, a small trace of approval crossed his face.
Mariana looked toward the long conference table.
Her father had spent years asking her to stop protecting the Whitmores.
She had always refused.
Andrew had been charming when they met.
Ambitious.
Funny.
Hungry in a way Mariana mistook for courage.
When his technology company began collapsing under debt, Mariana quietly persuaded her father’s investment group to save it.
Andrew never knew who the ultimate investor was.
The acquisition had been structured through layered companies.
That had been Mariana’s decision.
She wanted Andrew to believe in himself.
She wanted to know whether he could build something without feeling indebted to her family.
Instead, he eventually convinced himself he had built everything alone.
Mariana had never corrected him.
That silence became the most expensive mistake of her life.
Gabriel opened the folder.
“Whitmore International has one hundred eighty-four million dollars in outstanding obligations.”
“I know.”
“Escalante Capital controls sixty-eight percent of its preferred voting shares.”
“I know.”
“You personally control the trust that owns the mansion, the aviation company that leases his jet, and the property group holding three of his offices.”
“I know.”
Gabriel stared at his daughter.
“And he ordered you to kneel.”
Mariana’s eyes hardened.
“Yes.”
Gabriel closed the folder.
“Then why does he still have a company?”
“Because I don’t want revenge without facts.”
“He humiliated you in front of witnesses.”
“And if I destroy everything in anger, he’ll spend the rest of his life saying I ruined an innocent man because our marriage failed.”
Gabriel leaned back.
“So what do you want?”
Mariana turned toward the screen at the end of the room.
“I want the truth recorded.”
“I want every transaction reviewed.”
“I want every lie documented.”
“And I want Andrew to understand exactly how much of his empire he actually earned.”
The conference room door opened.
Mariana’s attorney, Evelyn Shaw, entered with two financial investigators.
Evelyn placed a tablet on the table.
“We found something overnight.”
Mariana looked at her.
“What?”
“Someone moved eight million dollars from a subsidiary account three weeks ago.”
Mariana’s expression sharpened.
“Andrew?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Evelyn tapped the screen.
“The authorization was routed through an executive credential registered to you.”
Mariana stepped closer.
“I never approved it.”
“I know.”
“Where did the money go?”
Evelyn looked toward Gabriel before answering.
“A private investment company.”
“What company?”
“Briar Rose Ventures.”
Mariana had never heard the name.
Then Evelyn opened a corporate registry file.
A photograph appeared.
Mariana stopped breathing for one second.
Briar Rose Ventures was controlled by Brenda Cole.
May you like
Andrew’s mistress.
*
