Chapter 2 - NORTHLINE VENTURES
Northline Ventures had been formed fourteen months earlier.
The same month Grant began disappearing on what he called “regional consulting trips.”
Julia obtained the public filings before we left the gala.
Manager:
Grant Whitaker.
Ownership schedule:
Grant - 51%.
Madison Vale Consulting - 49%.
Madison stared at the document in the hotel library.
“No.”
“You’ve never seen this?” Julia asked.
“No.”
“Did you authorize anyone to create an entity on behalf of your company?”
“No.”
Grant paced near the fireplace.
“This is getting ridiculous.”
Madison spun.
“You put my company into a three-million-dollar credit facility.”
“It was temporary.”
I almost laughed.
There it was.
Grant’s favorite word for permanent problems.
Temporary.
Jonathan Hale remained by the door.
Bellweather had agreed to secure The Winter Garden rather than seize it publicly.
The necklace now rested inside a tamper-evident case on the table.
Mine.
But not mine to take home yet.
That hurt.
Grant said:
“Northline was created for an acquisition.”
“What acquisition?” I asked.
“No longer relevant.”
Julia leaned forward.
“If a company using Claire’s property and Madison’s corporate identity borrowed $3.2 million, I promise you it remains relevant.”
Grant rubbed his face.
“We were buying a distressed consulting platform.”
“Who is we?”
No answer.
Jonathan opened another file.
“Bellweather was told Northline had three principals.”
My pulse changed.
“Three?”
Grant closed his eyes.
Jonathan read:
Grant Whitaker.
Madison Vale.
Claire Whitaker.
I stared.
“No.”
Madison whispered the same word.
Grant had somehow placed both wife and mistress inside the same investment structure.
Jonathan continued.
“Claire was represented as non-managing financial guarantor.”
I stood.
“What does that mean?”
Julia answered.
“It means you were shown as having economic exposure without day-to-day control.”
Perfect.
Liability without authority.
Grant had apparently designed marriage in corporate form.
I looked at him.
“Did you forge me again?”
His voice sharpened.
“I did not forge anything.”
“Then who signed?”
“The documents were handled electronically.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Madison suddenly said:
“Wait.”
We turned.
She was looking at the Northline address.
“That’s my office.”
Her consulting company occupied a small Midtown suite.
“Northline is registered there?”
“Yes,” Jonathan said.
“I’ve never seen mail.”
Grant looked away.
Madison went pale.
“My assistant handles mail.”
“What’s her name?” Julia asked.
“Rebecca Lane.”
Grant’s reaction was tiny.
I saw it.
“So Grant knows her,” I said.
Madison turned.
“Do you?”
He hesitated.
“She processed documents for us.”
“For us?”
Madison’s voice rose.
“You told me she was helping with my consulting invoices.”
Now another woman had entered the structure.
Assistant.
Paperwork.
Electronic signatures.
The machinery required more than Grant alone.
Jonathan checked his notes.
“Rebecca Lane was also listed as administrative contact for Northline.”
Julia immediately said:
“We preserve her communications.”
Grant snapped:
“You’re not subpoenaing my staff because Claire is upset about an affair.”
That was when I understood his strategy.
He still wanted the affair to remain the biggest story.
Cheating was ugly.
But ordinary.
Forged guarantees and undisclosed credit facilities were something else.
So I said:
“Grant, I don’t care who you slept with right now.”
Madison flinched.
Good.
Neither did I.
Not compared with this.
“I care about why you used my grandmother’s necklace to secure millions of dollars.”
Grant stared at me.
Then he said:
“Because Northline was supposed to make us rich.”
Us.
“What were you buying?”
He looked at Jonathan.
Then Julia.
Then me.
“A company called Meridian Advisory Group.”
Julia stopped writing.
I knew that name.
Everyone in corporate finance did.
Meridian handled restructuring work for troubled family-owned companies.
And three years earlier, I had worked there.
Before Grant asked me to leave my career.
Before I became the wife who handled school pickup and charity boards.
May you like
Before I disappeared into his life.
Grant had been secretly trying to buy my former company.
