Chapter 3: The Account Carrying My Name
“Two million four hundred thousand dollars,” Grace said over the phone.
“It was moved from the employee pension reserve into a shell company.”
David shook his head.
“She’s lying.”
Grace continued, “The company is called Mercer Strategic Holdings.
Anna is listed as its sole director.”
Every face turned toward me.
“I’ve never heard of it,” I said.
David gave a short laugh.
“Your name is on the documents, Anna.”
Grace’s voice sharpened.
“So is her electronic signature.
But the authorization came from David’s company laptop at 1:14 yesterday morning.”
David’s smile disappeared.
“Security, take his phone,” I said.
“You can’t confiscate my property.”
“The phone belongs to the company,” I replied.
“So did the Porsche.”
One of the officers held out his hand.
David stepped backward and slipped the phone into his pocket.
“You’re making a serious mistake,” he said.
“That account was created under Anna’s instructions.”
“Then why hide it from me?”
“Because you never understood how business works.”
I touched the swelling along my jaw.
“Try that answer again.”
David looked toward Victor Cole, the company’s chief financial officer.
Victor had been laughing beside the fireplace less than an hour earlier.
“Tell her,” David ordered.
“Tell her she approved the transfer.”
Victor adjusted his collar.
“I received an authorization bearing Anna’s signature.”
“Did you speak to me?”
“No.”
“Did you call my attorney?”
“No.”
“Then you moved $2.4 million because David sent you a document?”
Victor’s mouth tightened.
“It appeared legitimate.”
Grace spoke through the phone.
“It wasn’t.
The document was created eleven minutes after David accessed Anna’s private cloud account.”
David moved toward the hallway.
Both security officers blocked him.
“You wanted me blamed for taking employees’ retirement money,” I said.
“I wanted to protect the company.”
“By pledging my house and using my name?”
“Our house,” he snapped.
“And you wouldn’t have any of it if I hadn’t supported you.”
I turned the laptop around.
The original deed appeared on the screen.
“My mother left this house to me eight years before I met you.”
David glanced at Victor again.
That glance lasted only a second, but Grace noticed it.
“Anna,” she said, “ask Victor who receives the shell company’s payments.”
Victor’s hand began trembling.
“Answer her,” David warned.
Victor swallowed.
“The receiving account belongs to a consulting company in the Cayman Islands.”
“Whose company?” I asked.
Victor stared at the floor.
David stepped close to him.
“You don’t say another word.”
One security officer moved between them.
“Whose company, Victor?” I repeated.
Victor lifted his eyes.
“David’s.”
A woman near the doorway gasped.
Martin Hayes, the vice president who had laughed loudest after David humiliated me, quietly set down his glass.
David pointed at Victor.
“He processed every payment.
If anyone goes down for this, it’s him.”
“You told me the money was being moved for the acquisition,” Victor said.
“And you believed him?” I asked.
Victor rubbed both hands over his face.
“I believed what kept my job.”
My phone chimed again.
Grace said, “There’s another problem.
The transfer was scheduled in two stages.
We stopped the first payment, but the second authorization is already pending.”
“How much?”
“Six million dollars.”
David smiled for the first time since losing his car.
“You can stop it,” I said.
“Not without your voting rights,” Grace replied.
“And someone filed an emergency challenge claiming you’re mentally unfit to control the firm.”
David took a folded document from inside his jacket and placed it on my desk.
May you like
At the bottom was my daughter Lily’s name.
“She signed it this morning,” he said.
