Chapter 6 - The Husband at the OfficeElise arrived at Ward & Finch headquarters at 6:40 p.m.
Trevor was gone.
Adrian Cole, the chief operating officer, met her in the lobby.
He had worked for Cecilia for seventeen years and rarely showed emotion.
Tonight he looked shaken.
“He left ten minutes ago.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
“Because technically he still works here.”
“Not anymore.”
Grace touched Elise’s arm.
“Do not fire anyone until we understand what he has.”
Elise hated that Grace was right.
They went upstairs.
The company occupied four floors of a glass building overlooking the city.
Elise had grown up visiting these offices after school.
Now every familiar hallway felt compromised.
Adrian opened the conference room.
On the screen were six emails allegedly sent from Elise’s executive account.
Each authorized payments to N.W. Creative.
The language sounded almost like her.
Almost.
Proceed as discussed. Naomi’s allocation is consistent with Cecilia’s intent.
Another:
Keep this between Trevor, Naomi and me until the restructuring is complete.
Elise stared.
“I didn’t write any of these.”
Adrian nodded.
“I believe you.”
“But?”
“But the board will need more than belief.”
Grace examined the headers.
“Have IT preserve server logs immediately.”
“Already done.”
Elise looked at Adrian.
“Why would the board listen to Trevor?”
“Because he presented the affair before you could.”
Elise went still.
“He told them?”
“He said he had committed a serious personal betrayal.”
Naomi whispered, “He confessed?”
Adrian looked at her for the first time.
“He described it as an inappropriate relationship.”
Elise almost laughed.
“How noble.”
“He also claimed you threatened to destroy him professionally and use corporate resources to retaliate.”
“He stole money.”
“I know.”
“Then why is there a meeting?”
“Because if these emails are authentic, the payments were authorized by you.”
“They aren’t.”
“And if the executive authorization documents say what Trevor claims they say, he’s arguing your mother intended voting restrictions you ignored.”
Grace frowned.
“That is impossible.”
Adrian handed her copies.
Grace read them.
Then her face changed.
“What?”
“These pages are altered.”
“How?”
“The first two are real.”
Elise stepped closer.
“The final page isn’t.”
The final page contained language granting the board temporary authority to suspend Elise’s voting control if she was accused of self-dealing or misuse of company funds.
Grace shook her head.
“Cecilia never signed this.”
“There’s a signature.”
“It’s reproduced.”
“How can you tell?”
Grace pointed to a faint mark.
“Because I notarized the original amendment. This notary block is from another document.”
Naomi whispered, “Trevor forged it.”
“Likely assembled it digitally.”
Elise’s anger sharpened.
“So tomorrow we expose him.”
Grace shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because he has copies. We don’t have the original envelope.”
Elise understood.
The envelope Naomi had stolen.
Trevor had the originals he could manipulate, photograph or destroy.
Adrian sat.
“There’s another problem.”
Elise stared at him.
“How many more problems are there?”
Trevor had moved $620,000 from the company’s operating reserve that afternoon.
Elise’s mouth went dry.
“To where?”
“A treasury account he controls.”
“Can we reverse it?”
“The bank is reviewing.”
“Freeze everything.”
“We’re doing that now.”
Grace turned to Naomi.
“Did Trevor ever mention a buyer?”
Naomi looked confused.
“A buyer for what?”
“The company.”
“No.”
Then she hesitated.
“Wait.”
Elise saw it.
“What?”
Naomi swallowed.
“He once said Ward & Finch was worth more broken apart than Mom ever understood.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“When?”
“A few months ago.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Naomi struggled to remember.
“He said Elise was too sentimental to sell.”
Elise stared.
“And?”
Naomi looked at her sister.
“He said eventually you wouldn’t have a choice.”
A laptop notification sounded.
IT had finished reviewing Elise’s account.
Adrian opened the report.
The forged authorization emails had not originated from Elise’s office computer.
They had been sent from a device inside the mansion.
Elise leaned closer.
The device identifier appeared.
Her personal laptop.
The one kept in the master bedroom.
May you like
And each message had been sent on a night Elise was traveling for work.
Someone had been using her computer while she was gone.
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