Chapter 2 - THE SHADOW IN THE LEDGER
Julian stared at me for three long seconds after I uttered the words board meeting. A shadow of uncertainty crossed his polished features, but his arrogance quickly reclaimed its grip.
"The board meeting?" He let out a dry, forced laugh. "Maya, don't be ridiculous. The board meeting is for executive shareholders and senior vice presidents. It's high-level corporate strategy. You running around playing undercover secretary doesn't give you a seat at that table."
"We'll see," I said softly, turning my back on him and reaching for the door handle.
"Maya, stop!" He grabbed my arm, his grip tighter than it had ever been in seven years of marriage. "I'm serious. You're emotional right now. You saw Celeste acting possessive and you're jumping to insane conclusions. She's just an overzealous assistant who takes her job too seriously!"
I looked down at his hand on my sleeve until he felt the icy weight of my stare and slowly let go.
"An assistant who calls you her husband in front of twenty people?" I asked, my voice dangerously smooth. "An assistant who wears a three-carat canary diamond ring on her left hand that looks remarkably like the one that disappeared from our home vault two months ago?"
Julian's breath hitched. His jaw flexed, but no words came out.
"Enjoy your afternoon, Julian," I said, opening the door and stepping out into the polished corridor.
I walked straight past Celeste's desk. She was leaning back in her leather chair, applying a fresh coat of pink lip gloss in a compact mirror. When she saw me walk out of Julian's office without a box of personal belongings or tears on my face, her eyes narrowed.
"Back to the typing pool, temp?" she called out, her voice dripping with condescension. "Make sure you wipe down the breakroom counters before you leave today. Mr. Bennett likes a spotless office."
I stopped beside her desk, looking down at her. Up close, I could see the canary diamond ring flashing under her desk lamp.
"You should hold onto that ring tightly, Celeste," I said calmly. "It's going to be very expensive to pay back."
"What did you say to me?" She snapped her compact shut, her face flushing red. "Are you threatening me? I can have Mr. Bennett terminate your contract in five seconds!"
"Try it," I said with a faint smile, turning away and walking toward the elevator bank.
I didn't head down to the administrative floor. Instead, I took the private service elevator down to the sub-basement archive room.
Arthur Vance, my father's seventy-year-old chief accountant, was waiting for me behind a fortress of yellowing paper files and heavy black ledgers. The air down here smelled of aged paper, ink, and cold concrete—a stark contrast to the glass-and-marble luxury upstairs.
"Mrs. Bennett," Arthur said, standing up quickly and adjusting his thick glasses. "I heard there was a commotion on the fifth floor."
"Word travels fast," I said, sitting down at the wooden table.
"In a corporate building, news travels faster than light," Arthur sighed, handing me a freshly printed stack of bank statements. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
"I found out my husband's secretary thinks she's his wife," I said plainly. "Now show me where the $1.8 million went."
Arthur tapped a glowing red highlighter on a line item from three weeks ago.
"It wasn't just $1.8 million, Maya," Arthur said gravely. "Since you started your temp assignment three weeks ago, another $450,000 was moved out of the primary R&D fund. All of it is going to a firm called Aura Luxe Logistics."
"Who owns Aura Luxe?"
Arthur slid a corporate registration document across the table.
"It's an offshore shell company registered in Nevis," Arthur said. "But the local authorized signing agent listed on the bank authorization forms here in Chicago... is Celeste Price."
I stared at her signature—a flamboyant, loopy cursive written in blue ink.
"She isn't just his mistress," I whispered, the sickening picture finally locking into place. "She's his bagman."
"Julian has been authorizing the wire transfers, and she's been withdrawing the cash," Arthur confirmed. "They aren't just embezzling, Maya. They're preparing to liquidate Hartwell Industries' core patents and sell them to our chief competitor, Sterling Global, by the end of this quarter."
A cold, calm clarity washed over me. The pain of marital betrayal melted away, replaced by the fierce, protective instinct my father had instilled in me since I was a little girl.
Julian hadn't just cheated on me. He had tried to rob my father's grave.
"Arthur," I said, leaning over the desk. "Are the independent board members confirmed for tomorrow's nine a.m. meeting?"
May you like
"All seven of them," Arthur nodded, a sharp, vindictive glimmer in his old eyes. "Including Marcus Sterling, who thinks he's buying your father's company for pennies on the dollar."
"Good," I pulled out my phone and dialed my lead corporate attorney. "Tell Marcus Sterling to bring his checkbook. Tomorrow morning, Hartwell Industries gets a new CEO."
