Chapter 3 - The Vendor That Didn’t ExistDerek reached for the document.
Allison stepped back.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what you’re looking at.”
“I’m looking at my forged signature.”
“It’s a draft.”
“Drafts don’t need forged signatures.”
Camille stared at Derek.
“You said she approved it.”
He ignored her.
Allison turned toward her sister.
“He said what?”
Camille swallowed.
“He said you approved the refinance.”
“I didn’t.”
“I thought—”
“You thought what?”
Derek cut in.
“Camille, stop talking.”
Allison snapped her attention toward him.
“Keep telling her to shut up. Every time you do, I learn something.”
He lowered his voice.
“I was trying to stabilize the company.”
“My company is stable.”
“That’s because you don’t know what’s underneath it.”
Something in his tone frightened Allison.
Not because it sounded confident.
Because it sounded prepared.
As if Derek had imagined this conversation before.
Allison folded the document and placed it inside her handbag.
Derek moved toward her.
“If you take company documents—”
She laughed once.
“You’re going to accuse the managing member of stealing her own records?”
Camille whispered, “There were payments.”
Allison looked at her.
Derek closed his eyes.
“What payments?”
Camille’s hands trembled.
“To Alder Row.”
The name meant nothing to Allison.
“What is Alder Row?”
Camille hesitated.
“A consulting company.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
Derek scoffed.
“This is ridiculous.”
Allison ignored him.
“How much?”
Camille looked at Derek.
He gave her a stare that made her shoulders shrink.
Allison stepped between them.
“How much, Camille?”
“I don’t know all of it.”
“How much do you know?”
“More than five hundred thousand.”
Allison felt the room tilt.
Grant Medical Properties owned three outpatient medical buildings in Maryland and Virginia. It generated healthy revenue, but half a million dollars was not something Allison would fail to notice unless someone deliberately buried it.
And Derek controlled the accounting department.
Derek, the man her father had trusted enough to bring into the company seven years ago.
Derek, who became contract CFO after Thomas Grant died.
Allison looked at him.
“You moved half a million dollars?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Camille did.”
“She doesn’t understand the books.”
Camille looked wounded.
“You told me those were catch-up distributions.”
Allison turned sharply.
“What?”
Camille’s voice broke.
“You said Dad had withheld money from me.”
Allison stared.
“Our father?”
Derek spoke quickly.
“Camille misunderstood.”
“No, I didn’t.”
For the first time, Camille sounded angry.
“You showed me statements.”
Derek’s expression hardened.
Allison stepped closer to Camille.
“What statements?”
Camille wiped her face.
“After Dad died, Derek told me he found transfers that benefited you. He said Dad gave you more than the sixty-forty ownership split showed.”
Allison felt an old wound opening.
Their father had left Allison sixty percent of Grant Medical Properties and Camille forty.
Camille had always resented it.
Thomas had explained that Allison had worked in the company for eleven years while Camille had chosen another career.
It had never mattered.
Not to Camille.
“You believed Derek over me?”
“You never talked to me about the numbers.”
“You never asked.”
“I did!”
“You accused me at Dad’s funeral of being his favorite.”
Camille’s face crumpled.
Derek stepped toward the bed.
“I’m done with this.”
Allison looked at him.
“No, you’re not.”
She pulled out her phone.
Derek’s gaze sharpened.
“Who are you calling?”
“Company counsel.”
“You’re going to create a disaster over something you haven’t verified.”
“That’s the first intelligent thing you’ve said.”
She dialed.
“Because I’m going to verify everything.”
Derek moved closer.
“Allison.”
She backed away.
“Do not touch me.”
He stopped.
Allison called Mara Feld, Grant Medical Properties’ outside attorney.
Mara answered on the third ring.
“Allison?”
“I need you to freeze any pending refinance, property transfer, or new debt involving Wellington Medical Plaza.”
A beat.
Mara’s voice changed.
“What happened?”
“I found a document with my signature on it.”
“What document?”
“A member consent for a $2.8 million refinance.”
Silence.
Then Mara said, “Allison, I sent no such consent.”
Derek went still.
Allison watched him.
“Mara, have you ever heard of a company called Alder Row Consulting?”
Another pause.
“No.”
Derek whispered, “Hang up.”
Allison didn’t.
Mara continued.
“But your controller emailed me two weeks ago asking whether consulting contracts above a hundred thousand required member approval.”
Allison felt ice move through her veins.
“Which controller?”
“Joanne.”
“Why?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
Allison looked at Derek.
He was no longer pretending to be offended.
He looked cornered.
Mara spoke again.
“Allison, I think you need to leave wherever you are and secure the company records.”
Allison’s gaze remained fixed on her husband.
“I’m already leaving.”
She ended the call.
Derek said, “You’re blowing up your own company.”
“No.”
Allison picked up the lunch bag.
For a moment, she considered leaving it.
Instead she carried it to the trash can.
She dropped it inside.
Camille covered her mouth as if that simple act hurt more than screaming.
Allison opened the door.
Behind her, Derek said, “You’ll regret making me your enemy.”
Allison stopped.
She turned only enough to look at him over her shoulder.
“You became my enemy before I knew I had one.”
Then she walked out.
Her phone vibrated before she reached the elevator.
A message from Mara.
I checked the state business registry. Alder Row Consulting LLC was formed eighteen months ago. Registered agent: Derek Hale.
May you like
The affair had lasted eleven months.
Alder Row had existed seven months before it began.
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