Chapter 4 - The Company Behind Bianca’s SmileThe emergency hearing lasted twenty-seven minutes.
It changed everything.
Malcolm appeared remotely with his attorney.
Sienna sat beside Claire.
The judge reviewed the pediatric documentation, preliminary child-protection report, and preserved security recording.
No one raised their voice.
No one needed to.
The video did the work.
Malcolm’s attorney argued that the court had seen only one incident.
Claire agreed.
“One incident involving a three-year-old child, followed by the father striking the child’s mother in the same room while the child was still crying.”
The judge looked at Malcolm.
“Did you examine your son after entering the room?”
Malcolm hesitated.
“My wife told me he was fine.”
“That was not my question.”
“No.”
The judge issued a temporary order.
Nolan would remain with Sienna.
Malcolm would have no unsupervised parenting time until further review.
Bianca would have no contact with the child.
The order was temporary, not a final finding of custody.
But Malcolm heard only one thing.
He had lost the right to take Nolan home.
Sienna heard something different.
Nolan was safe tonight.
Outside the courthouse, Malcolm approached her.
Claire stepped between them.
“Do not,” she said.
Malcolm stopped.
“Sienna.”
She kept walking.
“You’re destroying his family.”
That made her turn.
“His family?”
“Yes.”
“You watched a video of your wife frightening your three-year-old son, and you’re still talking about what I’m destroying.”
“You hit Bianca.”
“I admitted that was wrong.”
“But somehow your violence is understandable and mine isn’t?”
“No.”
Sienna stepped closer.
“Your violence is not the only reason Nolan isn’t going home with you.”
Malcolm’s face changed.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You saw him crying.”
“I know.”
“No, Malcolm. You saw Bianca touching her cheek.”
He stared.
“You didn’t see Nolan at all.”
Sienna left.
Two hours later, Jonah called her into Everline’s office.
The preliminary audit team had reconstructed Larkspur House Interiors’ ownership.
A screen showed a chart.
LARKSPUR HOUSE INTERIORS LLC.
Owned by BH Heritage LLC.
Controlled by Bianca Harrow Vale.
Sienna stared.
“She kept her maiden name inside the entity structure.”
“Yes.”
“Was any of this disclosed?”
“No.”
Jonah changed screens.
“Now look at invoices.”
Furniture.
Design consultation.
Lighting packages.
Art sourcing.
Executive staging.
Several appeared commercially plausible.
Others did not.
Then Jonah opened a line item for $214,000.
“Custom millwork and stone installation,” Sienna read.
“Address?”
Jonah enlarged the invoice.
Malcolm’s mansion.
Sienna felt cold.
“How much Westbridge money went into that house?”
“So far, we’ve tied at least eight hundred forty thousand dollars in Larkspur invoices to that address.”
“Maybe Westbridge reimbursed the company.”
“We checked.”
“Did they?”
“No record yet.”
“Could it be classified as compensation?”
“Not in the board minutes or payroll documents we have.”
Sienna leaned back.
“Who approved it?”
Jonah remained silent.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
He turned the screen.
Electronic approval records showed Malcolm’s credentials.
Not Bianca’s.
Malcolm.
Seven times.
Sienna stared at the timestamps.
“He knew.”
“Or someone used his credentials.”
“Which is possible.”
“Yes.”
“So we prove it.”
Jonah nodded.
Sienna did not feel satisfaction.
That surprised her.
For the last twenty-four hours she had imagined discovering Bianca as the villain behind everything.
It would have been easier.
Malcolm deceived.
Malcolm manipulated.
Malcolm innocent except for his terrible judgment.
But the records did not care what story was emotionally convenient.
They pointed toward him too.
Jonah opened another file.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Larkspur’s invoices didn’t begin after Malcolm married Bianca.”
Sienna looked at him.
“When?”
“Twenty-two months before the wedding.”
Sienna calculated.
“That’s before our divorce.”
“Yes.”
“How long before?”
“Eight months before Malcolm filed.”
The room became silent.
Sienna remembered Bianca from those years.
Not as Malcolm’s girlfriend.
As a consultant.
Bianca had attended a charity event hosted by Westbridge.
She had stood beside Malcolm beneath hanging lights and introduced herself to Sienna with a bright smile.
I’ve heard so much about you.
Sienna had shaken her hand.
Malcolm had said Bianca was talented.
Sienna had recommended her firm for one of Everline’s portfolio properties.
Her stomach turned.
“Show me the first payment.”
Jonah did.
$96,000.
Approved by Malcolm.
Sienna whispered, “He was paying her company while we were married.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t prove an affair.”
“No.”
“Or fraud.”
“No.”
“But it proves he knew who she was.”
Jonah nodded.
Sienna stared at the dates.
Then she noticed another column.
“Why are some payments exactly forty-nine thousand five hundred dollars?”
Jonah’s expression changed.
“That’s one reason compliance flagged them.”
“What was Westbridge’s internal threshold for independent board review?”
“Fifty thousand.”
Sienna looked at him.
“How many?”
“Eleven payments between forty-eight and forty-nine thousand nine hundred.”
Her pulse quickened.
“Same month?”
“Several within days of each other.”
“That can be invoice splitting.”
“Yes.”
Sienna stood.
“Get every approval.”
“We are.”
“Every email.”
“Yes.”
“Every change order.”
“Yes.”
“And compare them to the representations Malcolm made during our divorce.”
Jonah looked up.
“Why the divorce?”
“Because Malcolm told the court Westbridge was struggling.”
She remembered the financial disclosures.
Malcolm had argued the company had little distributable value.
His lawyers said redevelopment projects were speculative.
Sienna, exhausted and desperate to end the marriage peacefully for Nolan, had accepted a conservative valuation.
Now millions had been flowing through a company connected to the woman Malcolm later married.
Jonah understood.
“You think he may have understated Westbridge’s value.”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Sienna—”
“I said I don’t know.”
She stared at the screen.
“But we’re going to find out.”
Across town, Malcolm had reached the same dangerous point from the opposite direction.
He stood over Bianca’s phone.
“You told someone to delete invoices.”
“I did not.”
“The message is right there.”
“You don’t know the context.”
“Then give me the context.”
Bianca’s eyes hardened.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“You approved every important transaction.”
Malcolm froze.
“No.”
Bianca gave a small, bitter smile.
“You really don’t remember?”
She walked to a locked cabinet.
Opened it.
Removed a folder.
Then placed a document on the desk.
Malcolm recognized his signature.
It was a conflict waiver between Westbridge and Larkspur.
Except there was one problem.
Everline had never seen it.
Malcolm looked up.
“What is this?”
“Protection.”
“For whom?”
“For both of us.”
He scanned the final paragraph.
The agreement stated that Malcolm personally acknowledged Bianca’s beneficial ownership of Larkspur.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
The date was eighteen months earlier.
Malcolm whispered, “Why wasn’t this disclosed?”
May you like
Bianca stared at him.
“Because you told me not to send it.”
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