Chapter 5 - The First WireGrace arrived upstairs carrying a legal pad.
Naomi immediately stiffened.
Grace did not comfort her.
“Do you understand that anything you tell me while I represent Elise may not be privileged for you?”
Naomi nodded.
“You should have independent counsel.”
“I don’t want a lawyer.”
“You need one.”
Naomi looked at Elise.
“I want to help.”
Elise’s expression remained cold.
“Helping now doesn’t erase what you did.”
“I know.”
Grace turned to Naomi.
“Show me every account Trevor could access.”
For the next two hours, Naomi logged into banking portals, email accounts and cloud storage.
Trevor had been thorough.
But not perfect.
N.W. Creative had received $1.94 million from Ward & Finch.
Naomi had transferred $1.71 million to Hale Meridian Partners after receiving instructions from Trevor.
Another $190,000 remained.
“Do not move it,” Grace said.
Naomi nodded.
The transaction notes were worse.
Trevor had labeled the transfers as “portfolio management deposits.”
Naomi had signed an advisory agreement naming Hale Meridian as manager.
“Did you read this?”
Naomi whispered, “Not carefully.”
Grace stared at her.
“You signed authority allowing Trevor to move almost unlimited amounts.”
“I trusted him.”
Elise looked away.
The words hurt more than Naomi intended.
Grace downloaded everything.
Then Naomi found an email from five months earlier.
Trevor had written:
Keep all vendor communication on the N.W. account. Elise doesn’t need to be burdened with this until we know how much was withheld from you.
Grace read it twice.
“This establishes concealment.”
Elise folded her arms.
“Does it establish theft?”
“Not by itself.”
“What do we need?”
“Proof the consulting work was fictitious and evidence Trevor knowingly diverted funds.”
Naomi suddenly spoke.
“There was never any work.”
Grace looked at her.
“Can you prove that?”
Naomi hesitated.
“The invoices were created before he showed them to me.”
“Where?”
“He emailed PDFs.”
“Do you still have the original messages?”
Naomi searched.
Most had been deleted.
But one remained in trash.
The attached invoice billed Ward & Finch $310,000 for a “West Coast luxury market repositioning analysis.”
Naomi stared at the date.
“I was in Mexico that week.”
Elise looked at her.
“You were on vacation.”
“With friends.”
Grace leaned closer.
“And the invoice claims you conducted forty-three executive interviews.”
Naomi almost laughed from disbelief.
“I’ve never conducted an executive interview in my life.”
Grace saved the message.
Elise’s phone began vibrating.
Company counsel.
Then the chief operating officer.
Then a board member.
Something was happening.
Elise answered the COO.
“Adrian?”
“Elise, where are you?”
“At Naomi’s.”
A pause.
“Is Trevor with you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“What happened?”
“He came into headquarters twenty minutes ago.”
Elise stood.
“He doesn’t have authorization to—”
“He does.”
“What?”
“You never revoked his corporate access.”
Elise looked at Grace.
“He’s vice president of finance,” Adrian continued. “His credentials still work.”
“What is he doing?”
“He’s telling people there’s an emergency governance issue.”
Grace mouthed, Put him on speaker.
Elise did.
Adrian continued.
“He requested copies of shareholder records and board correspondence.”
“Stop him.”
“I can restrict him temporarily, but Elise, he’s claiming you discovered his affair and are making irrational financial accusations because of the marriage.”
Naomi went pale.
Elise gripped the phone.
“He stole nearly two million dollars.”
“He says you ordered those payments.”
Silence.
“What?”
“He showed me emails.”
Elise looked at Grace.
“What emails?”
“Messages from your executive account authorizing every payment to N.W. Creative.”
“I never sent them.”
“He says you did.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“And that’s not the worst part.”
Elise’s heartbeat accelerated.
“He has signed copies of the missing executive authorization documents.”
Grace stood.
Adrian continued.
“He says those documents prove you’ve been abusing your voting authority—and he’s requesting an emergency board meeting tomorrow morning.”
Trevor had not disappeared because his affair had been discovered.
May you like
He had gone to work.
And while Elise was still trying to understand the betrayal in her bedroom, her husband had begun trying to take her company.
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