Chapter 2 - The Account That Should Not Exist)
Claire spread the documents across Emma’s office desk.
The office was the smallest room in the penthouse, which Eleanor considered appropriate.
“Your little workspace,” she called it.
Julian called it the same thing.
Neither of them knew that contracts worth more than Julian’s annual salary had been signed at that desk.
Claire removed the deed first.
Then corporate filings.
Then statements from the holding company Emma had created before marrying Julian.
Finally, she placed a thin stack of bank records in the center.
Emma frowned.
“What are those?”
“Something I noticed yesterday.”
Claire sat opposite her.
“When you bought the penthouse, we created Meridian Residential Holdings to manage property expenses.”
“I remember.”
“Julian insisted on contributing monthly after you married.”
“Because he thought the apartment belonged to both of us.”
“And you told the accountant to accept the payments but keep them separate.”
Emma nodded.
She had done it because she did not want Julian later claiming an ownership interest based on contributions.
Claire tapped the statements.
“His monthly transfers arrive normally.”
“So?”
“They leave forty-eight hours later.”
Emma looked at her.
“Leave where?”
“That’s what bothered me.”
Claire turned the page.
“Three years ago, the accountant established an automated reimbursement. Julian’s payments were supposed to move from Meridian into a separate account under his name.”
Emma remembered approving something like that.
She had wanted Julian’s money preserved.
He believed he was paying the mortgage.
Emma considered it savings he would eventually discover.
Claire continued.
“For the first fourteen months, that’s exactly what happened. Then the destination account changed.”
“Who changed it?”
“We’re still tracing authorization.”
“Where does the money go now?”
Claire slid another page forward.
Emma saw the name.
Eleanor Vale.
For several seconds, she did not understand.
Then she read the transactions.
Every month.
Fourteen thousand dollars.
Sometimes sixteen.
Sometimes twenty.
Large supplemental transfers appeared after Julian received bonuses.
Emma’s mouth went dry.
“How much?”
“From that stream alone? Three hundred eighty-six thousand.”
Emma stared.
Claire had more.
“Eleanor also receives transfers from Julian directly.”
“That’s his business.”
“Normally, yes.”
Claire turned another page.
“But those transfers originate from the same operating account into which his employer deposits compensation.”
Emma frowned.
“I still don’t understand.”
“The amounts are strange. Consistent percentages.”
Emma studied them.
Twenty percent.
Sometimes twenty-five.
Once thirty-five.
“Is Julian giving her money?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Claire leaned forward.
“Emma, I ran a corporate search on Vale Capital because I wanted to confirm his compensation structure.”
Vale Capital was the investment company Julian claimed to run.
He used the title managing partner.
Eleanor introduced him as chief executive whenever the distinction benefited her.
“What did you find?”
Claire hesitated.
“Julian does not own Vale Capital.”
Emma blinked.
“I know his family owns it.”
“No.”
Claire pushed another document across the desk.
“His family doesn’t own it either.”
Emma read the shareholder filing.
Vale Capital Partners LLC.
Majority owner: North Regent Fiduciary Group.
“What is North Regent?”
“A trust administrator.”
“For whose trust?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Emma stared at the page.
Julian spent years speaking about his family company.
His father had founded an investment boutique decades earlier.
After his death, Julian claimed to have expanded it.
Eleanor spoke constantly about protecting the Vale legacy.
But according to Claire, the Vale family did not control the company bearing their name.
“Does Julian know?”
Claire folded her arms.
“That is one of several questions.”
The door opened.
Both women turned.
Eleanor stood there.
She had used her key.
Again.
Her eyes moved from Claire to the papers.
“What is this?”
Emma calmly gathered the documents.
“Work.”
Eleanor entered.
“At home?”
“It is my office.”
“I mean your little consulting projects.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
Emma touched her wrist beneath the desk.
Not yet.
Eleanor looked at Claire.
“Still practicing divorce law?”
“Among other things.”
“How depressing.”
Claire smiled.
“You’d be surprised.”
Eleanor ignored her.
“I came because Julian wants dinner at seven.”
“Julian can tell me himself.”
“He is busy.”
“So am I.”
Eleanor’s gaze dropped to Emma’s stomach.
“You need to learn where your priorities are before the baby arrives.”
Emma’s voice remained soft.
“My priorities are exactly where they need to be.”
Eleanor looked again at the papers.
For half a second, Emma saw something change in her face.
Recognition.
It vanished quickly.
But Claire saw it too.
Eleanor left twenty minutes later.
The instant the elevator doors closed, Claire said, “She recognized the bank logo.”
Emma nodded.
“I know.”
Claire reached for the page containing the transfer history.
At the bottom was the destination account.
She read the institution again.
Then froze.
“What?”
Claire did not answer.
“Claire?”
She rotated the paper.
“There’s a secondary beneficiary designation.”
Emma leaned closer.
The beneficiary was not Julian.
It was Sebastian Vale.
Julian’s younger brother.
The same brother Eleanor described as irresponsible.
The same brother Julian claimed he had financially cut off two years earlier.
Claire stared at Emma.
“We need to find out where this money ends.”
May you like
They would.
And when they did, Emma would discover that the luxury shopping bags Eleanor carried into the penthouse were nothing compared with the house being built seventy miles away.
