Chapter 3: The Woman Behind the Missing Millions
At 7:12 the next morning, I found Daniel in the kitchen feeding Brielle strawberries from a bowl.
He had slept in the guest bedroom.
Or perhaps he hadn't slept at all.
His shirt was wrinkled, his eyes bloodshot, and the expensive watch on his wrist sat crookedly against his skin. Brielle wore one of my silk robes.
I stopped in the doorway.
“That's mine.””
Brielle looked down at the robe.
“Oh. Daniel said I could use anything I needed.””
“He was mistaken.””
She placed the strawberry on her plate.
“It's just a robe, Evelyn.””
“Then you shouldn't have any trouble taking it off.””
Daniel slammed his coffee cup onto the counter.
“Can you stop behaving like a jealous teenager?””
I looked at him.
“You brought your mistress into my house, put her in my clothes, and tried to steal my company. I assure you, jealousy is the least of my concerns.””
Brielle's face reddened.
“I'm carrying his child.””
“And I'm not disputing the child's existence.””
“Then why are you treating me like this?””
“Because you're sitting in my kitchen wearing my clothes and acting as if you inherited the place.””
She rose so quickly that her chair scraped across the floor.
“You think money makes you better than everyone else?””
“No. But owning the house does give me a say in who lives here.””
Daniel stepped between us.
“Brielle, go upstairs.””
“Don't tell me to go upstairs!””
He grabbed her suitcase and pushed it toward the hallway.
“Just go!””
She stared at him in disbelief before snatching the suitcase handle and storming away.
When her footsteps disappeared, Daniel turned to me.
“Happy now?””
“Not remotely.””
“You've humiliated me enough.””
I placed my laptop on the kitchen island and opened the audit report.
“Tell me about Victoria Shaw.””
He glanced at the screen, then reached for the laptop.
I closed it before his fingers touched the keyboard.
“Don't.””
“Those are confidential company records.””
“I am the controlling shareholder. I have full access to the materials Richard provided.””
“You're not an auditor.””
“Neither are you, apparently, if you thought these payments would remain invisible.””
His expression hardened.
“You have no idea how complicated running a company is.””
“Then simplify it for me. Why did Carter Holdings pay more than four million dollars to a company controlled by your former assistant?””
He stared at me.
I waited.
Finally, he pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Victoria handled special projects.””
“What projects?””
“Market research. Acquisitions. Competitive intelligence.””
“Where are the invoices?””
“Her company was responsible for maintaining them.””
“Then why are they missing?””
“Because she left.””
I opened the report again.
“According to the state filing, her company is still active. It received another payment three weeks ago.””
Daniel's fingers tightened around his coffee cup.
“That's impossible.””
“Then you should have no objection to explaining it to the board.””
He pushed back his chair.
“You think Richard and those old men on the board are going to protect you? They care about the company's stock price. If this becomes public, everyone loses.””
“Everyone except the person who stole the money.””
He looked at me with something close to hatred.
“You have no proof I stole anything.””
“I didn't say you did.””
“You implied it.””
“Then let's ask the auditors.””
For the first time, he looked afraid.
It wasn't dramatic. He didn't stumble backward or shout. His eyes simply shifted toward the laptop, and his breathing became shallow.
I recognized the expression.
It was the same one he had worn eight years earlier when our first major acquisition nearly collapsed. Back then, he had admitted he was frightened. I had spent three nights beside him, helping him rebuild the financial projections.
He had kissed my forehead on the morning of the deal and promised that he would never forget what I had done.
I wondered when that promise had become so easy for him to break.
My phone rang.
Margaret.
“Evelyn, I've reviewed the preliminary audit,” she said.
“The shareholder transfer is only one part of the problem. The consulting payments need an independent forensic review.””
“Richard has already ordered one.””
“Good. Also, I checked the proposed transfer entity. It was incorporated four months ago.””
I looked at Daniel.
“By whom?””
“The registered organizer is a law firm. The beneficial ownership declaration identifies Daniel. But there's something else. The entity has a credit facility secured against future distributions from Carter Holdings.””
I felt the room tilt.
“How much?””
“Seven million dollars.””
Daniel's coffee cup stopped halfway to his mouth.
Margaret continued.
“If the transfer had gone through, the new entity could have claimed rights to certain distributions. Depending on the agreements, the lender might also have tried to enforce its security interests. We need to examine the full documents before drawing conclusions.””
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Daniel hadn't merely tried to take my shares.
He had apparently arranged financing around assets he didn't have the authority to pledge.
“Send me everything,” I said.
“I already have. One more thing, Evelyn. Don't attend that meeting alone. I'll be there.””
When the call ended, Daniel stood so abruptly that his chair toppled backward.
“You called Margaret?””
“Yes.””
“You're bringing lawyers into our marriage?””
“You brought corporate fraud into it.””
“You don't know that anything illegal happened!””
“Then the investigation should be easy.””
He leaned over the island, lowering his voice.
“Listen to me carefully. If you walk into that boardroom and accuse me of wrongdoing, you will destroy your own life along with mine.””
I met his gaze.
“You've spent ten years telling everyone I contributed nothing. If that's true, why are you so frightened of what I'll say?””
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Then his phone rang.
He checked the screen and immediately declined the call.
A second later, a message appeared.
I wasn't trying to look, but the name was visible.
*Victoria Shaw.*
Daniel turned the phone facedown.
“Answer it,” I said.
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because it has nothing to do with you.””
I reached for my laptop.
“Then you won't mind if I ask Richard to contact her.””
Daniel caught my wrist.
His fingers dug into my skin.
“Don't you dare.””
I looked down at his hand.
He released me.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then he stepped away, smoothing his shirt as if the gesture could erase what he had done.
“I'm warning you, Evelyn. Victoria is unstable. She has a history of making accusations when she doesn't get what she wants.””
“Interesting. You told me she was a trusted executive.””
“She was.””
“And now she's unstable?””
“She changed.””
“Or you discovered she knew something you didn't want her to know.””
His expression went blank.
I opened my laptop and searched the company's internal records. The audit team had attached a summary of the consulting firm's payments, but the underlying documents were stored in a restricted archive.
I entered my shareholder credentials.
Access denied.
I tried again.
Access denied.
Daniel gave a short laugh.
“Looks like your little ownership percentage doesn't give you access to everything.””
I examined the screen.
The permissions had been changed at 6:43 that morning.
The administrator account responsible for the change belonged to Daniel's chief financial officer, Martin Cole.
I called Richard.
He answered immediately.
“Evelyn?””
“Someone has restricted my access to the company's financial archive.””
“Which account?””
“Martin Cole's administrator account. The changes were made less than thirty minutes ago.””
Richard swore under his breath.
“That's not authorized. I'll have the IT director preserve the logs and restore your shareholder access.””
“Don't restore anything until the logs are secured.””
A pause.
“Good thinking. I'll call the IT director now.””
When I hung up, Daniel was staring at me.
“What did you tell him?””
“That someone changed my access permissions.””
“You're making a huge mistake.””
“Then stop giving me reasons to investigate.””
He grabbed his jacket and headed for the front door.
“Where are you going?”” I asked.
“To the office.””
“The board meeting is in forty minutes.””
“I know what time the meeting is.””
He yanked the door open.
“Daniel?””
He stopped without turning.
“If you haven't done anything wrong, why are you running?””
His shoulders rose and fell.
Then he looked back at me.
“Because you have no idea what happens when the wrong people discover what's really inside that archive.””
He left.
I stood alone in the kitchen, listening to his car pull away.
The house was quiet except for the refrigerator's low hum and the distant sound of Brielle moving upstairs.
I reopened the audit report.
At the bottom of the document, beneath the missing invoices and the list of suspicious payments, was a note the auditors had flagged for immediate attention.
Potential undisclosed beneficiary associated with consulting entity.
A name appeared beside it.
Not Daniel Carter.
Not Victoria Shaw.
*Brielle Matthews.*
I read it twice.
Then I opened the supporting document.
It was a bank transfer confirmation dated six months earlier, showing that Brielle had received a payment of $300,000 from the consulting firm's account.
The reference line contained just five words.
Initial payment for final agreement.
My hands went cold.
Upstairs, a door slammed.
Then Brielle appeared at the top of the staircase, one hand gripping the railing and the other resting protectively on her stomach.
She looked down at me.
“Evelyn,” she said, her voice suddenly trembling.
“Before you go to that meeting, there's something you need to know about Daniel.””
She descended one step.
Then another.
“And if you tell the board what you found, he won't be the only person who goes to prison.””
May you like
She reached the bottom of the stairs, glanced toward the front door, and whispered the words that changed everything.
“Because the baby I'm carrying isn't Daniel's.””
