Chapter 10 - THE CITY I USED AS AN ALIBI
Six months earlier, Caldwell Meridian acquired a boutique hotel group headquartered in Nashville.
I led that transaction too.
At the time, I called it one of my cleanest deals.
Now investigators believed Vale Partners had quietly influenced that purchase through a chain of shell investors.
“Why would Vale want us to buy Nashville?”
Luca answered.
“Because Caldwell overpaid.”
“How much?”
“Potentially sixty million dollars.”
My stomach dropped.
The seller had received an inflated price.
Part of the proceeds then traveled through consulting firms.
One company belonged to a Vale affiliate.
Another had paid Trinity.
Not for my affair.
For consulting.
“Trinity worked on Nashville?”
“Apparently.”
Before I met her.
That was the key.
She had claimed our conference meeting was the beginning.
But she was already connected to a transaction I managed.
The trap had started earlier than even she admitted.
I demanded to speak with her.
Luca refused until attorneys approved.
Good.
People were finally putting rules around me.
I needed them.
When Trinity’s attorney eventually permitted a conversation, we met in a conference room near the airport.
Two lawyers present.
No touching.
No romance.
Trinity looked exhausted.
“You lied about Nashville too.”
She closed her eyes.
“My father used one of my consulting companies.”
“Did you know?”
“Not initially.”
“When did you know?”
“Before I met you.”
There it was.
“Then our entire relationship started as a job.”
“At first.”
I laughed.
I had heard those words before in other contexts.
They never helped.
“But it changed.”
“Did it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why keep stealing information?”
“Because I was trapped.”
“By your father?”
“By everything.”
She had taken money.
Signed consulting agreements.
Sent documents.
If she tried to walk away, Robert threatened to expose her.
Then she met me.
A married man with his own secrets.
Apparently secrets attract each other.
“I thought if you left Dakota and I separated from my father, we could disappear.”
“To Florence?”
“Yes.”
The trip suddenly looked pathetic.
Two dishonest people imagining another country could make them clean.
Trinity began crying.
“I did love you.”
I believed her.
That was almost worse.
Because love hadn’t stopped either of us from lying.
“I loved you too,” I said.
Her face lifted.
Then I finished.
“And look what we did with it.”
Silence.
We had no future.
That became clear in the room between us.
Not because Dakota won.
Not because Trinity lost.
Because whatever existed between Trinity and me had been built inside deception from the first day.
Her attorney ended the meeting.
As Trinity left, she turned.
“Dakota deserves better.”
I almost laughed.
“Yes.”
“So do you.”
That surprised me.
I shook my head.
“Maybe someday.”
Not yet.
Back at the temporary corporate office, Richard joined by video.
The Nashville acquisition would be reviewed and potentially restructured.
Insurance claims might recover some losses.
Vale’s role would become subject to litigation.
Then Richard said:
“Ethan, we need to discuss your position.”
I already knew.
“I’m fired.”
“Not yet.”
That surprised me.
The board had to complete the investigation.
But I was suspended indefinitely.
No access.
No authority.
No corporate travel.
No expense account.
The identity I had spent fifteen years building disappeared in thirty seconds.
Then Richard added:
“There is one reason we haven’t terminated you immediately.”
“What?”
“Your wife.”
I stared.
“Dakota asked us to distinguish between misconduct you actually committed and documents someone may have uploaded under your name.”
Even after everything, she had insisted they tell the truth about me.
Not protect me.
Not excuse me.
Tell the truth.
And somehow that hurt more than hatred.
Then Richard said:
“She also found something else in your Nashville expense reports.”
My pulse jumped.
“What?”
“One payment doesn’t belong to Trinity.”
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Paid from my executive discretionary account.
Approved under my credentials.
Recipient:
DAKOTA COLEMAN.
I stared at the screen.
“I never paid my wife twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Richard nodded.
May you like
“We know.”
Someone had used Dakota’s name to move money too.
