Chapter 5 - THE PRESCOTT FAMILY WAR
Diane Prescott had built her reputation on three principles: discretion, discipline, and never allowing private problems to become public disasters.
For decades, she had succeeded.
Her husband had been a powerful businessman. Her sons had grown up in luxury. The Prescott name appeared on hotels, charitable foundations, and university buildings across California.
Now her family was being investigated for financial misconduct, and her older son was publicly associated with the woman his younger son had abandoned at the altar.
Diane was furious.
She summoned Graham to the family mansion the following morning.
Natalie went with him.
Diane's expression hardened when she saw her.
“This is a family matter.”
“Then you should have kept your family from turning it into a public spectacle,” Natalie replied.
Graham hid a smile.
Diane did not.
“You have no idea what you're involving yourself in.”
“Then explain it to me.”
For a moment, Diane appeared ready to dismiss them both.
Instead, she walked to a cabinet and removed a sealed envelope.
Inside were letters exchanged between Margaret Brooks and Robert Prescott.
The first described concerns about irregular foundation payments.
The second warned that Richard Vale had gained unauthorized access to the company's private accounts.
The third contained a handwritten note from Robert.
Diane, if anything happens to me, the children must not inherit this corruption. Find a way to stop the transfers without exposing them to the people responsible.
Natalie looked up.
“You knew about the fraud.”
Diane nodded.
“I discovered it shortly before Robert died.”
“Why didn't you go to the police?”
“Because Richard had connections inside the company and among several officials. I believed that a direct accusation without evidence would put my sons at risk.”
“So you did nothing?”
“I tried to stop the transfers quietly.”
Natalie remembered the old authorization code.
“You blocked the transaction on my wedding day.”
Diane nodded again.
“I used Margaret's original security code because Richard believed it had been destroyed.”
“Why didn't you tell Graham?”
“Because I wasn't certain who had access to the remaining accounts.”
Graham looked wounded.
“You suspected me?”
“I suspected everyone.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No,” Diane said. “It is a confession.”
The room fell silent.
For the first time, Natalie saw Diane not as a cold socialite protecting her reputation, but as a woman who had spent years trying to contain a danger she did not fully understand.
That did not make her innocent.
It made her human.
Diane admitted that she had pressured Miles to marry Natalie because she believed the union would stabilize the family's financial position. Natalie's mother had retained voting rights connected to a trust, and those rights would become relevant under certain inheritance arrangements.
But Diane had never expected Miles to abandon Natalie.
“I thought he loved you,” she said.
“So did I.”
Diane looked away.
“I am sorry.”
Natalie wasn't ready to forgive her.
But she accepted the apology.
Graham studied the letters.
“Where is the original trust agreement?”
Diane pointed to a locked drawer.
“Richard took it seven years ago.”
Evelyn, who had joined them by video call, requested the drawer's contents be photographed and preserved.
Then she delivered another surprise.
A company registered in Nevada had been used to receive the missing eighteen million dollars. Its current owner was listed as a nominee director, but the beneficial owner had never been disclosed.
The address belonged to a private office complex.
Natalie recognized the building from Camille's photograph.
“That's where Miles went on the morning of our wedding.”
Graham looked at her.
“Then we need to find him.”
They discovered that Miles had checked into a hotel under his own name but had not returned to the family mansion.
His phone was switched off.
His bank accounts showed no unusual activity.
But his car had been recorded entering a private underground garage owned by Richard Vale.
The next evening, Natalie received an email from Miles.
I know you hate me. I deserve that. But please don't trust Graham with everything you find. He knows more about the missing money than he's telling you.
Attached was a photograph of Graham meeting Richard Vale in a parking garage three days before the wedding.
Natalie stared at it.
She forwarded it to Graham.
He called immediately.
“That meeting was about a proposed sale of one of our hotels. Richard brought the documents. I rejected the offer.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because it was a routine business meeting.”
“Nothing about this is routine anymore.”
He went quiet.
Then he said, “You're right.”
Natalie looked at the photograph again.
She wanted to believe him.
But she had believed Miles for four years.
Trust, she was learning, was not a feeling she could simply switch on because someone seemed sincere.
It was a decision supported by evidence.
“I'm going to investigate the meeting,” she told him. “Independently.”
Graham's answer came without hesitation.
“Good.”
She had expected resistance.
Instead, he gave her space.
And that frightened her more than a denial would have.
May you like
Because for the first time, she was beginning to understand that Graham might actually be different.
And if he was, she would have to decide whether she was brave enough to love him without using the past as protection.
