Chương 8
“I understand the logic.”
“You’re still angry.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Claire folded the top of the paper bag into a narrow strip.
“Did you want Mom to see those pictures?”
“No.”
“Did you want his mother to?”
Victoria hesitated.
Claire nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
“I wanted someone on his side to know before he called them.”
“That’s different from wanting them to see?”
“Not entirely.”
“Thank you.”
The gratitude was not warm. It was relief at finally receiving an honest answer.
Claire tore the folded strip from the bag.
“His mother called Mom,” she said. “She says you staged the whole thing to destroy him.”
“I staged the police search?”
“She says he was moving money to protect the company because you’ve been unstable since your dad died.”
Victoria looked toward the windows.
Her father had died eighteen months earlier after a short illness. During the final weeks, Victoria traveled between Los Angeles and Phoenix while Ethan managed the firm. She signed documents from hospital corridors and airport lounges without reading them closely.
That was when the first Marrow Reed account had been opened.
“He’s using Dad,” she said.
“He’s using whatever works.”
“Does Mom believe her?”
“No. Mom hung up.”
“Good.”
“She also threw the blanket away.”
Victoria rubbed her forehead.
Claire pushed the almond pastry toward her.
“Eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“You look expensive and terrible.”
Victoria took a bite.
The filling was too sweet.
Claire watched her chew. “What happens now?”
“The forensic review continues. The board meets tomorrow. The bank froze the operating line, so payroll may be delayed.”
Claire stopped folding the bag.
“Your employees know?”
“They know there’s an investigation.”
“Do they know Ethan’s involved?”
“Some do.”
“And the others?”
“Think I sent police into my own house because my husband cheated.”
“That is what the internet thinks.”
Victoria looked at her.
Claire held up her phone.
A screenshot from the family chat had reached a celebrity gossip account because one of Ethan’s cousins forwarded it to a friend. The account had blurred the photographs but displayed Victoria’s message and the anniversary portrait.
DESIGN MOGUL LOCKS HUSBAND AND MISTRESS IN BEDROOM DURING POLICE RAID.
The phrase design mogul would have amused Victoria under different circumstances. Her company employed thirty-one people and leased one floor in a building that also housed a dental laboratory.
“How many people saw it?” she asked.
“Enough.”
By afternoon, three clients had requested calls.
One postponed a contract signing. Another asked whether project deposits were secure. A third wanted written assurance that Ethan had not accessed their personal financial information.
The board meeting lasted four hours.
Hale Residential Design’s board consisted of Victoria, Ethan, Samuel Voss in a temporary advisory role, two outside investors, and Margaret Chen, a retired architect who had mentored Victoria early in her career.
Ethan joined through counsel.
His attorney, Daniel Mercer, spoke for him.
Mercer was silver-haired and calm, with the careful sympathy of a doctor delivering someone else’s diagnosis.
“My client denies any theft or fraudulent intent,” he said. “The transfers in question supported a planned events and business-development venture that Ms. Hale knew about and encouraged.”
Victoria’s attorney, Naomi Brooks, slid a document across the table.
“This is the operating agreement for Marrow Reed Consulting. Ethan Hale is the manager. Victoria Hale’s name does not appear.”
Mercer did not look at it. “Administrative structure does not establish concealment.”
“The company paid a vendor he secretly controlled.”
“Mr. Hale managed multiple affiliated entities.”
“Not secretly.”
“Your characterization is disputed.”
Margaret removed her glasses.
“Did the board approve the venture?”
Mercer glanced at Ethan on the screen.
Ethan answered directly.
“The initiative was under development. I intended to present it after confirming feasibility.”
“You transferred nearly four hundred thousand dollars before presenting it?”
“Over fourteen months, in exchange for legitimate services.”
“Provided by whom?”
“Contractors.”
“Names?”
“My counsel has advised me not to discuss details under active investigation.”
Margaret looked at Victoria.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Ethan’s image on the screen shifted as he leaned forward.
“You knew we were expanding event services.”
“We discussed partnerships.”
“We discussed building an internal division.”
“We discussed it once. At dinner. You said the margins were poor.”
“You don’t remember half our business conversations.”
Naomi touched Victoria’s wrist beneath the table, a warning not to respond.
Margaret turned to Samuel. “Can payroll be met?”
“If the emergency credit facility is approved today.”
“Who guarantees it?”
“Victoria personally.”
One of the investors, Paul Denning, frowned. “Against what assets? The house is tied to the disputed credit line.”
“I have other assets,” Victoria said.
“How much exposure?”
“Enough.”
Paul looked at the gossip article on his tablet. “This is becoming reputationally toxic.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened. “The reputation problem began with missing funds.”
“The public story is not missing funds.”
“The public story will change.”
“Maybe. Meanwhile, clients are calling.”
Margaret set down her glasses.
“What do you recommend?”
Paul did not hesitate. “Victoria steps aside temporarily. We appoint an interim chief executive with no connection to the dispute.”
The words landed more quietly than Victoria expected.
She had founded the company in a rented room above a flooring store. She had drawn the first project plans herself, answered phones, selected hardware samples, and driven invoices to clients because she could not afford overnight delivery.
Now the board discussed removing her from it because the public had seen her husband in another woman’s bed.
“Ethan is the one under investigation,” she said.
“And he has already taken leave,” Paul replied.
“He didn’t take leave. We suspended his access.”
“Either way, neither spouse should control operations while claims of financial misconduct are unresolved.”
Margaret looked unhappy but not surprised.
Victoria turned to Naomi.
Her attorney’s expression told her this had been discussed without her.
“You knew,” Victoria said.
“I knew it was possible.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I told you the board would focus on continuity.”
May you like
“That is not the same sentence.”
“No,” Naomi said. “It was the sentence you could hear yesterday.”
