Chapter 5: The Attorney Who Served Two Masters
Grace Alderton arrived at our house at nine the following morning with a leather portfolio, a coffee she had brought herself, and the particular quality of attention that makes you feel, within the first two minutes, that she has already read the room and formed three opinions she hasn't shared yet.
She was in her mid-fifties, compact and precise, with the kind of stillness that comes from decades of listening to people explain why they had done things they should not have done.
She read Matthew's documents first.
Then the original participation agreement.
Then the divorce correspondence.
She did not speak while she read.
When she finished, she set everything down in a neat stack and looked at me.
"Tell me about Clifford Pryce."
"He was Grant's attorney from the beginning.
When we started the divorce, Grant suggested we use Pryce for both sides.
He said it would keep things simple and less expensive."
"And you agreed."
"I was thirty-four, I had no savings left, and I believed my marriage had ended because I couldn't have children.
I wasn't in a position to think clearly about attorney conflicts."
Grace nodded once.
"Did Pryce ever explain the participation agreement to you directly?
Sit down with you and walk through the terms?"
"No.
Grant explained it.
Pryce sent the document.
I signed."
"Did you ever receive a copy of the Northgate Passive filing?
Any document that referenced that entity?"
"No.
I had never heard that name until two nights ago."
Grace opened her portfolio and wrote something.
"Northgate Passive was incorporated four months into your divorce proceedings.
Its registered agent was a firm called Meridian Administrative Services.
Meridian has appeared as registered agent in eleven other Harrow Urban-related entities over the past eight years." She looked up.
"Pryce is a named partner at the law firm that owns Meridian."
The room was very quiet.
"He built the shell," Theo said.
"He built the shell, filed the transfer, and then sent your divorce attorney a summary document describing a redemption that had never occurred." Grace's voice was even.
"Your divorce attorney had no reason to request the underlying corporate records.
She saw a transaction summary on letterhead from a known firm and accepted it as confirmation."
"Is that — was that negligence on her part?" I asked.
"That's a secondary question.
The primary question is whether what Pryce did constitutes fraud." Grace set her pen down.
"The answer, based on what I'm looking at, is yes.
Deliberate misrepresentation of a financial interest during divorce proceedings, using a corporate structure he personally controlled to obscure the asset.
That is not a gray area."
My hands were flat on the table.
I looked at them.
"Grant had to know," I said.
"He couldn't not have known."
"He directed it," Grace said simply.
"Pryce executed it.
But the instruction to bury the interest came from somewhere.
These structures don't build themselves."
"Can you prove that?"
"Not yet.
But the corporate records are subpoenable.
The communications between Grant and Pryce's firm during the divorce period are discoverable.
And—" she paused, "—Matthew Rowan's compliance review has already flagged this.
His firm has its own legal exposure if they proceed with a joint venture while this is unresolved.
That makes Matthew a motivated ally."
She looked at me steadily.
"I want to file.
I want to file against Pryce for professional misconduct and fraudulent misrepresentation.
I want to file against Grant personally for the underlying financial fraud.
And I want to do it before he returns from his honeymoon."
I looked at Theo.
He said nothing.
This was my decision and he knew it.
"What happens to Celeste?" I asked.
Grace tilted her head slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"She doesn't know any of this.
She married him two days ago.
She's pregnant."
"That's not your responsibility to manage," Grace said — not unkindly, but clearly.
"I know." I looked back at the documents.
"File."
Grace picked up her pen.
"I'll need everything you have.
Every document, every email, every text message from the divorce period."
"I have them," I said.
"I kept everything."
For the first time that morning, something shifted in Grace's expression.
Not quite a smile.
The recognition of someone who has just learned the case is stronger than she expected.
"Good," she said.
"That's very good."
My phone buzzed on the table.
A call from a number I recognized immediately.
Grant.
I let it ring.
Grace watched the screen until it went dark.
"Don't answer," she said.
May you like
"Not without me present.
Not ever again."
