Chapter 2 - What Jasper Said Before Naomi EnteredNaomi asked Grant to play the meeting recording.
Jasper immediately objected.
“You don’t need to do this.”
Naomi looked at him.
“I absolutely do.”
“It’s humiliating.”
“For whom?”
His face tightened.
She turned toward Grant.
“Play it.”
The recording began.
Naomi watched herself leave the office after receiving the call from downstairs.
Seven seconds later, Jasper entered.
No panic.
No confusion.
He knew exactly why he was there.
“Give me the blue folder.”
Naomi listened to every word.
Jasper demanding the Armitage documents.
Elise refusing.
Jasper telling her Naomi did not need to know.
Then:
“You work for Naomi because she trusts you. Trust can disappear quickly.”
Naomi’s chest tightened.
She had known Jasper could be arrogant.
She had never heard him use her trust as a threat against one of her employees.
Then came the moment he ordered Elise to delete the folder.
“No,” Elise said on the recording.
Jasper looked toward the door.
Then began damaging his own appearance.
Naomi watched him pull his shirt.
Twist the collar.
Ruin his hair.
Then shout her name.
She paused the video.
Nobody spoke.
Naomi stared at the frozen image of her husband with one hand still gripping his own shirt.
“What were you expecting me to do?”
Jasper looked away.
“Naomi.”
“What were you expecting?”
“I panicked.”
“You had enough time to mess up your clothes.”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“You waited until you heard me coming.”
He said nothing.
Naomi’s voice became quieter.
“Were you expecting me to fire her?”
Jasper finally looked up.
“I didn’t know what you would do.”
“That’s not true.”
“Naomi—”
“You knew exactly what I would do.”
Her eyes shifted toward Elise.
“I would believe my husband.”
Elise said nothing.
That silence hurt more than anger.
Naomi remembered the instant Jasper made the accusation.
She had turned toward Elise with fury before asking one question.
Jasper had predicted her perfectly.
Naomi looked back at him.
“You were willing to destroy her career.”
“No.”
“What happens to an executive assistant accused of assaulting the CEO’s husband?”
“I would have corrected it.”
“When?”
He had no answer.
“After security removed her?”
Silence.
“After HR opened a file?”
Nothing.
“After people searched her name online?”
Jasper rubbed his forehead.
“I told you I panicked.”
Elise finally spoke.
“You didn’t panic about me.”
Everyone looked at her.
“You panicked about the folder.”
Jasper’s jaw tightened.
Elise continued calmly.
“You only needed Naomi to stop listening to me.”
Naomi felt something cold move through her.
That was exactly right.
The accusation was not the goal.
Silence was.
Grant cleared his throat.
“There’s more we should discuss.”
Naomi looked at him.
“How much more?”
“I don’t know yet.”
He shared his screen.
Armitage had received twenty-three payments.
Different amounts.
Different properties.
Different department codes.
Some were disguised as legal consulting.
Others as real-estate analysis.
Three as “executive continuity planning.”
Naomi frowned.
“What is executive continuity planning?”
Melissa answered.
“We don’t have a project under that name.”
Jasper said:
“It’s board-level.”
Naomi turned.
“Then why don’t I know about it?”
He hesitated.
“Charles was handling it.”
There.
The first admission connecting Jasper to her uncle.
Naomi’s stomach tightened.
“How long have you been discussing my company with Charles?”
“He’s chairman.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Jasper looked toward the screen.
Grant, Melissa, and Daniel watched.
He clearly hated having witnesses.
“Occasionally.”
“How occasionally?”
“Naomi, this is getting ridiculous.”
She laughed once.
“You falsely accused a woman of assault because she found almost three million dollars in unexplained payments.”
His face hardened.
“Those payments aren’t unexplained.”
“Then explain them.”
“They were preparing for risk.”
“What risk?”
“Leadership risk.”
Naomi went still.
“What does that mean?”
Jasper looked at Charles’s name on one of the trust documents.
Then back at Naomi.
“You’ve been moving too fast.”
Melissa raised an eyebrow.
Naomi stared.
“With what?”
“Acquisitions.”
“Our margins increased eleven percent.”
“That isn’t everything.”
“What is everything?”
“Stability.”
Naomi almost laughed.
“Whose stability?”
Jasper said nothing.
Daniel opened another document.
“I found the Armitage consulting agreement.”
“Who signed it?”
“Your signature appears.”
Naomi’s chest tightened.
“Appears?”
Daniel zoomed in.
The signature was accurate.
Too accurate.
Digital certificate.
Timestamp.
Authorization.
She stared.
“I never signed this agreement.”
Jasper immediately responded.
“Yes, you did.”
She looked at him.
“When?”
“Last December.”
“Where?”
“At home.”
“What was I told I was signing?”
Jasper’s face changed slightly.
Naomi caught it.
“Jasper.”
“You had a stack of documents.”
“What documents?”
“Insurance. Property renewals. Family office.”
“And Armitage?”
“You signed.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Silence.
Naomi remembered that evening.
She had been leaving for Chicago the next morning.
Jasper brought papers into the bedroom.
“Just boring renewals,” he had said.
Naomi signed where sticky tabs showed.
She had trusted him.
Her throat tightened.
“You hid this inside other documents.”
“I didn’t hide anything.”
“What did you call it?”
He looked away.
Naomi knew.
Nothing.
He had not called it anything.
Grant opened the contract.
Maximum authorized spend:
$5 million.
Purpose:
“Strategic planning relating to executive transition, continuity, and reputational risk.”
Naomi read the phrase twice.
Executive transition.
“Transition from who?”
Nobody answered.
Then Melissa said:
“There’s another attachment.”
A planning timeline appeared.
PHASE ONE: EXECUTIVE RISK DOCUMENTATION.
PHASE TWO: BOARD CONFIDENCE REVIEW.
PHASE THREE: TEMPORARY TRANSFER OF AUTHORITY.
Naomi’s skin prickled.
“What authority?”
Daniel scrolled.
A name appeared.
INTERIM EXECUTIVE CHAIR: CHARLES HAWTHORNE.
Naomi stared at Jasper.
Her uncle was not merely receiving money through a trust.
May you like
Someone had been preparing for Naomi to lose control of her company.
And Jasper had helped obtain the signature making the plan possible.
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