Chapter 3 - THE WIFE HE THOUGHT HAD NOTHING
Corbin estimated Selena’s personal net worth at $1.8 million.
She read the number twice.
Then laughed for the first time since the funeral.
Tamara looked over her shoulder.
“What?”
“Apparently I’m worth one point eight million dollars.”
Tamara stared at her.
“Your parents’ house alone is worth more than that.”
“I know.”
Corbin’s divorce disclosure described Selena as an “independent media consultant whose income fluctuates significantly.”
That was how she had presented herself publicly for years.
Deliberately.
When Thomas Renner acquired control of Vellum Crown Media twenty years earlier, he kept the ownership private through trusts and holding companies.
Selena joined quietly after business school.
She learned every department.
Licensing.
Distribution.
Production finance.
Digital media.
But her father refused to give her a glamorous title.
“If they know your last name controls the room,” he told her, “you’ll never learn who respects your judgment and who respects your shares.”
Selena eventually became chair of the family holding company.
Still largely invisible.
Corbin knew her parents invested.
He knew they were wealthy.
He never asked how wealthy.
He assumed their money was locked in old trusts that would someday be split among charities.
Why?
Because Selena once told him she did not plan her life around inheritance.
He apparently heard: There is nothing to inherit.
Malcolm placed Corbin’s requested settlement beside her.
He wanted the Manhattan apartment.
Half of Selena’s retirement accounts.
A percentage of her consulting income for several years.
And reimbursement for “career sacrifices made to support the marriage.”
“What sacrifices?”
Malcolm almost smiled.
“He says he attended family functions that helped protect your professional reputation.”
Selena stared.
“He wants compensation for going to dinner?”
“Essentially.”
She shook her head.
“Do not retaliate.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
“I want accurate disclosures.”
That was all.
If Corbin had separate assets, he kept them.
If anything was legitimately marital, Selena would divide it fairly.
If he had hidden assets, that was his problem.
Then Blythe arrived with another audit update.
Aster Row Productions was real.
But barely.
No permanent employees.
No office beyond a rented suite.
Most payments flowed out within days.
“To where?”
“Several places.”
Consultants.
Travel companies.
Vivian’s entities.
And one large payment:
$2.1 million to Crown Meridian Distribution.
Selena knew the name.
Crown Meridian was negotiating international rights for The Glass Monarch.
“Why would a vendor pay our distributor?”
“That’s what we asked.”
Blythe pushed another document forward.
Crown Meridian had granted Aster Row an undisclosed participation in international backend revenue.
Selena stared.
Corbin’s secret company could earn millions if the film succeeded.
Vellum Crown’s board had never approved that participation.
“Who signed?”
“Miles Kessler.”
The executive producer.
Then another signature.
Corbin.
Selena’s jaw tightened.
He had created a private side arrangement inside a film financed by a company he thought belonged to strangers.
If legitimate, he should have disclosed it.
He didn’t.
Then Blythe said:
“There’s something stranger.”
Aster Row’s formation documents dated back three years.
Before The Glass Monarch was fully financed.
Before Vivian entered Corbin’s public life.
“Who helped him form it?”
“Dennis Harrow.”
Selena recognized the name.
Corbin’s divorce attorney.
The same lawyer currently claiming Aster Row did not belong to Corbin.
Malcolm leaned back.
“That’s unfortunate.”
For Corbin.
Then Selena’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Mrs. Ashford?”
“Yes.”
“This is Miles Kessler.”
The executive producer sounded terrified.
“We need to talk before Corbin finds out I called you.”
“Why me?”
A long silence.
Then:
“Because Thomas Renner told me that if anything happened to him, you were the only person at Vellum Crown I should trust.”
Selena’s pulse changed.
“What do you know?”
Miles whispered:
“The Glass Monarch budget wasn’t inflated to steal money.”
She frowned.
“Then why?”
“Corbin was buying something.”
“What?”
Miles exhaled.
May you like
“Control.”
And according to him, Corbin’s secret company had been quietly acquiring rights that could eventually let him take The Glass Monarch away from Vellum Crown entirely.
