Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN I TRUSTED
I read the timestamp three times.
Natalie stood beside Thomas and Vanessa outside a restaurant in SoHo.
Two days before my appointment.
The woman who had helped uncover every suspicious transaction had apparently been meeting with the people involved.
I locked my phone before anyone else could see.
“Marcus,” I said, “give me the room.”
He frowned.
“Claire?”
“Please.”
Charles left with him.
I called Natalie.
She answered on the second ring.
“Morning.”
“Come to my office.”
“I’m already on thirty-eight.”
Thirty seconds later, she entered carrying coffee and a tablet.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
She smiled.
Then saw my expression.
The smile vanished.
I showed her the photograph.
She stared at it.
For five seconds.
Ten.
Then she set down the coffee.
“Where did you get that?”
“Explain.”
“I can.”
“Good.”
“It isn’t what it looks like.”
“Everyone in my life has used that sentence this week.”
She sat.
“Thomas contacted me three weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“He said somebody inside Whitmore was moving money through fake vendors.”
“You knew before I became CEO?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was trying to verify it.”
“By meeting Vanessa?”
Natalie looked toward the glass walls.
“Close the blinds.”
I didn’t.
“Talk.”
She lowered her voice anyway.
“Thomas wasn’t stealing from Whitmore.”
“You know that?”
“He was tracking the money.”
“Then why run?”
“Because someone framed his credentials during the server breach.”
“How convenient.”
“I told him to stay and cooperate.”
“He panicked.”
“What does Vanessa have to do with this?”
“She contacted Thomas six months ago.”
“Why?”
“She said Edward had gone too far.”
I almost laughed.
“Vanessa developed a conscience?”
“No. Vanessa developed fear.”
“Of Edward?”
“Of what he was planning.”
Natalie took out her phone.
She opened an encrypted app and handed it to me.
There were dozens of messages with Thomas.
Vendor names.
Payment flows.
Dates.
Photographs of documents.
Thomas had been quietly investigating financial leakage for months.
“Why didn’t he go to Charles?”
“Because Charles was part of the original secret Edward was using as leverage.”
“So Thomas came to you.”
“He knew I was expected to join your administration.”
“And you kept this from me.”
“I wanted evidence before your first day.”
“Instead, I got an $80,000 watch and a drink thrown on me.”
Natalie almost smiled.
I didn’t.
“Why were you with Vanessa two days ago?”
“She said she had the master ledger.”
“What master ledger?”
“A record of every payment Edward extracted from Whitmore-related entities since 2022.”
“Extorted?”
“Some payments were disguised as consulting fees. Others were routed through projects. Thomas believes Edward threatened Charles with releasing the 2001 video.”
I felt sick.
“Did Charles know money was being paid?”
“Thomas thinks he knew about some payments.”
That explained Charles’s evasiveness.
“And Adrian?”
“Mostly a distraction.”
I thought about Project Crown.
“He planned to replace me.”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa manipulated him.”
“Yes.”
“But he still did it.”
“Yes.”
Natalie didn’t try to excuse him.
That mattered.
“Who sent me the photograph?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who knew about the meeting?”
“Thomas, Vanessa, me.”
“Then one of them.”
“Or whoever was watching us.”
That possibility was worse.
I finally closed the blinds.
“Tell me everything.”
Natalie described a scheme that had grown slowly.
Edward had used the old accounting scandal as leverage over Charles.
At first, payments were small.
Legal consulting.
Family settlement expenses.
Private investments.
Then they increased.
Thomas, who had helped conceal the original accounting issue, became the person ordered to route them.
He complied for years because he believed exposing the past would destroy Whitmore.
Eventually, Edward began demanding more.
Access.
Board influence.
Confidential strategy.
And Adrian.
“Why Adrian?”
“Because Edward knew Adrian resented you.”
I stared at her.
“Vanessa became his secretary because Edward wanted someone close to him.”
“Yes.”
“The affair?”
Natalie hesitated.
“I don’t know whether Edward ordered that.”
It didn’t matter.
Adrian had chosen it.
“Why did Vanessa turn?”
“Edward stopped trusting her.”
“Why?”
“Because she became too close to Adrian.”
Irony.
The affair that helped Edward manipulate my husband may have eventually made his own operative unreliable.
“Where is the master ledger?”
“Vanessa says she hid it.”
“Where?”
“She wouldn’t tell us.”
I looked at the Wrenfield message.
“She wants me at the townhouse.”
Natalie’s expression changed.
“No.”
“She says she can prove who stole the money.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Then we won’t go alone.”
“You cannot involve police without alerting Edward.”
“We already involved federal authorities.”
“They don’t know about tonight.”
“They will.”
Natalie stood.
“If Vanessa thinks you’re bringing law enforcement, she’ll disappear.”
“Then maybe we let her.”
“Claire, that ledger could prove everything.”
I looked at her.
“You seem very invested.”
She absorbed the accusation.
“I understand why you don’t trust me.”
“Good.”
“But ask yourself who benefits if you stop trusting everyone.”
“Edward.”
“Yes.”
I sat down.
That was the strategy.
Isolate.
Confuse.
Turn every relationship into suspicion.
It had worked beautifully on Adrian.
I wasn’t going to let it work on me.
“Call Marcus,” I said.
“What are you planning?”
“We’re going to Wrenfield.”
That evening, I arrived at the townhouse at 7:58.
Not alone.
Marcus waited in an unmarked vehicle half a block away with two private investigators and instructions to contact authorities if I failed to check in.
Natalie was not permitted to come.
At eight, the townhouse door opened.
Vanessa stood there.
No arrogant smile.
No designer blouse.
No jewelry.
She looked exhausted.
“You came.”
“I’m here.”
She stepped aside.
The house was enormous.
And mostly empty.
No artwork.
No family photographs.
It looked staged.
“You lived here?”
“For fourteen months.”
“On whose money?”
“Not Adrian’s.”
“Then whose?”
“Edward’s.”
I entered.
“You threw a drink on me yesterday.”
“I know.”
“You called me a custodian.”
“I know.”
“Was that part of Edward’s plan?”
She shook her head.
“That was me being awful.”
At least she didn’t lie.
“Why?”
“Because Adrian told me you were weak.”
The answer landed strangely.
“And you believed him.”
“I believed what I wanted to believe.”
She sat at the dining table.
I remained standing.
“Why contact me?”
“Because Edward is going to destroy Adrian.”
“My sympathy is currently limited.”
“He’ll destroy you too.”
“How?”
“He has forged documents tying you to the missing money.”
“Project Crown.”
Her eyes widened.
“You found it.”
“Yes.”
“Then Adrian showed you the phone?”
“I found the phone.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“Of course you did.”
“You underestimated me.”
“We all did.”
For the first time, she sounded sincere.
“Where is the ledger?”
“Safe place.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I need protection.”
“You should talk to federal investigators.”
“I will. After I know Edward can’t reach me.”
“Then why invite me?”
“Because the ledger isn’t enough.”
She took an envelope from beneath the table.
Inside were photographs.
Edward with Thomas.
Edward with Adrian.
Edward with several board members.
Then one photograph stopped me.
Charles.
Handing Edward a folder.
Taken only three months earlier.
“What was in that folder?”
“The board succession file.”
My blood ran cold.
“Charles gave Edward information about my appointment?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Edward threatened to release the 2001 recording.”
I stared at her.
“So Charles knew Edward was targeting Adrian.”
“He knew Edward was interested in the succession.”
“Did he know about Project Crown?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa leaned forward.
“But there’s something else you need to understand.”
“What?”
“Edward never wanted Adrian to become CEO.”
“Then why encourage him?”
“To make him destroy himself.”
I thought about the affair.
The fake expenses.
Project Crown.
Every trail led back toward Adrian.
“He was setting Adrian up.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Prison.”
Before I could answer, glass exploded behind us.
Vanessa screamed.
A bullet struck the wall above the fireplace.
I dropped behind the table.
Another shot shattered a lamp.
“Back door!” Vanessa yelled.
We ran.
Somewhere outside, tires screamed.
By the time Marcus reached us, the shooter was gone.
Vanessa was shaking violently.
In her hand was a small silver key.
She pressed it into my palm.
“Grand Central,” she whispered.
“Locker 418.”
“What’s there?”
“The ledger.”
May you like
Then she looked at me with terror.
“And the recording that proves who ordered everything.”
