Chương 3
He apologized the next morning.
Some sentences outlived apologies.
Dalia looked at Julian. “You believed it could be yours.”
“We were married.”
“You told me you hadn’t touched her for a year before you separated.”
Julian’s face hardened. “This is not the place.”
Dalia gave a small, disbelieving laugh.
Khloe looked away. She had no desire to rescue Dalia, but neither did she enjoy watching the first crack open in another woman’s understanding of Julian. She remembered how lonely that moment could be.
Charles Merritt appeared through the curtain.
“Khloe, forgive me.” His gaze moved across the group and absorbed the situation. “We have a problem with the pledge display.”
“What kind of problem?”
“The Duval Nexus match is showing as pending instead of received.”
Julian turned. “That’s an administrative delay.”
Charles’s voice remained formal. “Our treasurer says the transfer confirmation cannot be verified.”
“It was processed this morning.”
“Then it should be simple to confirm.”
Julian’s attention shifted back to Khloe, and fear returned to his face.
This time she understood it.
The Duval Nexus pledge was the center of the gala’s financial structure. Julian’s company had promised to match donations up to twelve million dollars. The announcement had persuaded hospitals to expand waiting lists and donors to increase commitments. Allesian Hearts had printed the pledge across invitations, press releases, and the screen beneath which Khloe had just spoken.
If the money had not arrived, the evening was not merely embarrassing.
It was built on a false promise.
Khloe looked at Gabriel.
He gave the smallest shake of his head. He had not known.
Julian stepped closer to Charles. “I said it was processed.”
“Then come with me,” Khloe said.
He glanced at her.
“We’ll confirm it together.”
For the first time that night, Julian seemed unable to decide which version of himself the room required.
Dalia touched his arm again, but differently now.
“Go,” she said. “Confirm it.”
The board’s temporary operations office occupied a narrow room behind the stage, usually used for storing floral equipment and spare linens. That evening it contained four laptops, two printers, donation ledgers, a half-eaten tray of sandwiches, and Anna Rosen, the treasurer of Allesian Hearts.
Anna was sixty-two, silver-haired, and incapable of pretending that money was less important than manners. She had removed her heels and stood in stocking feet beside a screen displaying the gala’s live donation total.
Julian entered first.
“What exactly is the confusion?” he demanded.
Anna looked at Khloe, then Gabriel, then Dalia, who had followed despite Julian telling her not to.
“There is no confusion,” Anna said. “There is no settled transfer.”
Julian held out his hand. “Show me.”
Anna rotated the laptop.
The payment confirmation from Duval Nexus included a transfer reference number and a timestamp from 9:14 that morning. The account status displayed pending verification.
“Our bank cannot match the reference to an incoming transaction,” Anna said. “Your finance office stopped returning calls at six.”
“It’s Saturday night.”
“They answered all week while we were promoting your name.”
Julian took out his phone. “I’ll call my chief financial officer.”
“Call the bank,” Khloe said.
He looked at her with open dislike.
“Your CFO cannot make an absent transfer present.”
Gabriel stood near the closed door, leaving space around Khloe while making it clear no one would interrupt them. Dalia remained beside a rack of folded tablecloths. She watched Julian with the expression of someone waiting to see whether a familiar trick would work now that she knew it was a trick.
Julian called his CFO. The call went to voicemail.
He tried again.
Anna folded her arms.
“Perhaps he’s in the ballroom,” Julian said.
“He checked out of his hotel at four-thirty,” Gabriel said.
Everyone turned toward him.
Gabriel held up his phone. “My office was trying to reach him about a separate Duval Nexus investment matter. His assistant said he left for Teterboro.”
Julian stared at him. “You had your office investigating me tonight?”
“My office was verifying exposure after your stock dropped eleven percent this week.”
Dalia blinked. “Eleven?”
Julian’s anger sharpened. “That movement was temporary.”
“You told me it was three,” she said.
“No one discusses market fluctuations with exact numbers at dinner.”
“People do when they’re asked.”
Anna tapped the transfer confirmation. “This document was created from the donor portal, not the bank. It proves that someone initiated an instruction. It does not prove that funds were available or sent.”
Khloe leaned toward the screen.
The confirmation carried a small notation beneath the amount: release dependent upon secondary liquidity event.
She read it twice.
“What secondary liquidity event?”
Julian reached for the laptop.
Anna pulled it back.
“That language was not in the pledge agreement,” Khloe said.
“It’s standard treasury management.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“You’re not a corporate treasurer.”
“I spent eight months reviewing your platform’s transactions.”
The room went still.
Julian’s gaze fixed on her. “You reviewed public information.”
“Not all of it.”
Gabriel spoke before Julian could.
“Allesian Hearts granted Khloe access to its donor records during the restructuring. Duval Nexus processed eighteen percent of those donations.”
Julian looked at Anna. “You gave my former wife access to proprietary data?”
“We gave our chair access to our money.”
“I will have our lawyers—”
“Your lawyers should explain the pledge,” Khloe said.
He turned on her. “You planned this.”
The accusation was so predictable that it almost steadied her.
“I did not plan for your money to disappear.”
“You arrived with Lancaster, pregnant, under a title no one told me about, and now you’re implying financial misconduct.”
“Your invitation identified the honorary chair.”
“My staff handles invitations.”
“That may be the first believable thing you’ve said.”
Dalia covered her mouth, whether to hide a reaction or stop herself from speaking.
Julian’s eyes moved to her.
“You find this amusing?”
“No.” She lowered her hand. “I find it familiar.”
May you like
He stared.
She continued before courage left her. “You do this whenever something surprises you. You decide someone arranged it to hurt you.”
